Landers' Newspaper Slots Filling Up

By: Dave Astor With Ann Landers' last column running July 27, more than 700 of her 1,200 newspapers have already decided what to do on July 28.

Over 600 papers have agreed to buy four Creators Syndicate-distributed advice columns, according to Creators President Richard Newcombe, whose company distributed the late Landers.

About 100 papers have signed "Dear Abby," said Universal Press Syndicate Director of Communications Kathie Kerr, increasing that column's client list to an enormous 1,300.

Other advice columnists have benefited, too. For instance, "Tell Me About It" writer Carolyn Hax has gained at least 15 clients since Landers' death, reported Washington Post Writers Group Sales Manager/North America Karisue Wyson.

Is Creators happy with the post-Landers sales total? "It's beyond my expectations," replied Newcombe, adding that the syndicate has hired temporary help to process the orders. "There's still a strong market for general advice columns."

Most of Creators' new advice sales are for its three-in-one package, while the rest are for the recently signed Amy Alkon (whose client list includes many alternative weeklies). Newcombe said most papers didn't automatically replace Landers with the package, but did so after reading and liking column samples.

The most popular part of the package is the daily "Annie's Mailbox" column by two former Landers assistants, followed by the twice-weekly "Dear Prudence" by Landers' daughter. Newcombe said there was initially a lot of editor interest in the package's third element -- a weekly best-of-Landers column -- but many papers decided that "if the goal is to attract younger readers, rerunning older features is not the best idea."

Newcombe added that, as of July 28, each element of the three-in-one package will be offered for individual sale.

Kerr said Universal is "very pleased" with the 100-client increase. "We think it indicates that editors are very comfortable filling the Ann Landers space with 'Dear Abby,'" she said.

Hax has actually gained about 60 clients in the past month or so, according to Wyson, who noted that 45 Gannett papers were coincidentally added to the list around the time of Landers' death. Hax, whose advice is geared mainly to readers under 30, now has about 175 subscribers. Just over one-third of them run the column with an illustration.

Wyson added that "Tell Me About It" might move to three times a week from two.

"Help Me Harlan" columnist Harlan Cohen has signed three new clients and is waiting to hear from a number of other papers that have expressed some interest. He currently has about 70 clients, including many college papers.

Cohen, who has been doing his column for eight years and brings a male perspective to the mostly female advice field, has a tougher sales road to hoe because of being self-syndicated.

Another advice column, Harriette Cole's "Sense and Sensitivity, " is being launched July 29 by United Media (see related Web story). The syndicate just started selling the thrice-weekly feature -- which has appeared in the New York Daily News since 2001 -- so the size of its client list isn't known yet. Cole is a former editor of Essence magazine, an author of best-selling books such as "Jumping the Broom: The African-American Wedding Planner," and founder of a "coaching, style, and literary" production company that has worked with singer Alicia Keys and other recording artists.

As for advice columns previously announced or already in syndication, everyone interviewed said they expect client totals to continue climbing as July 28 nears. Hundreds of papers are still deciding who to replace Landers with, though it's possible some cost-conscious dailies won't replace her with anyone -- or will buy a non-advice column instead.

Complicating the effort to come up with a post-Landers advice tally is the fact that some columns "replacing" the daily Landers feature are not daily, or may end up appearing on a different page than Landers did.

Client-gain numbers for various advice columns could not be confirmed independently. But there's no doubt that there's a lot of space at stake.

"Ann Landers' death," Wyson said, "opened up some pretty valuable real estate on newspaper pages."