Body + soul is leaving Watertown for New York
Body + soul, the health publication owned by Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia, will close its Watertown offices to move to New York City, and in the process, lose one of its top editors.
Officials told the magazine’s 15 editorial employees yesterday that by November, the publication would be operated out of the company’s Manhattan headquarters, where its editorial, design, and art departments are based, along with the company’s wholeliving.com Web team. The move was based on operating efficiencies, and opportunities will be made available for staffers who can relocate.
“We’ve had a tremendous ride, and our circulation has tripled, and we’ve gotten a lot of new business growth in most areas,’’ said Jan Thaw Bruce, the magazine’s managing director and publisher. “The commercial opportunities by being consolidated under one roof are significant, and we want to take advantage of them.’’
Meanwhile, Alanna Fincke, editor in chief since February 2006, will remain in Boston with her family, Bruce said. Alexandra Postman of Elle magazine will take on Fincke’s role.
In a statement, Martha Stewart said: “I would also like to thank Alanna, who has done an excellent job at body + soul over the past three years.’’
The magazine has 10 editors, a production person, two designers, an office manager, a publisher, and a publisher’s assistant plus its sales staff in Watertown. It will maintain ad salespeople in Boston.
Body + soul covers health, fitness, and beauty stories under Martha Stewart’s “Whole Living’’ mantra. The September issue features stories on whether readers should fire their doctors, how to make good habits stick, and how to work out for stronger bones.
The magazine, launched in 1974 as New Age Journal, changed to its current name in 2001. Three years later, Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia bought the publication and its sister newsletter, Dr. Andrew Weil’s Self Healing Newsletter, for $6 million.
Over the past five years, the magazine has increased its frequency and circulation, from publishing eight times a year to 10. The magazine, which had a circulation of 200,000 in 2004, now has circulation of 600,000, according to the Audit Bureau of Circulations.
Not that the magazine hasn’t been victim to the same decline in readership that has plagued many publications. According to a report last week by Advertising Age magazine, newsstand sales declined 15 percent at Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia for the first half of this year because of the recession, and body + soul newsstand sales dropped 7 percent during the same period.
Body + soul follows other Boston-based publications that have left New England in recent years. In 2007, 02138 magazine, which covered Harvard University alumni, moved to New York before closing last fall. The Atlantic Monthly, based in Boston for 150 years, relocated to Washington, D.C., in 2006. And in 2003, Natural Health magazine left for California.
Johnny Diaz can be reached at jodiaz@globe.com. 
