Inc., a monthly publication targeting the entrepreneurial community, is currently accepting pitches for all sections. ”We are a magazine about people who are incredibly passionate and have the will to start a business from scratch,” managing editor Alexandra Brez told Mediabistro.

And, before you fire off a pitch with a generic business angle, keep in mind that the pub goes to great lengths to set itself apart from competitors such as Fast Company or Forbes. ”We are different because of our sophistication, as well as our connection to and interest in our community of entrepreneurs,” Brez said. “We are a very likable brand. People are proud to be featured by us.”

Get more details on pitching guidelines, plus contact info for all editors in  How to Pitch: Inc. [Mediabistro AvantGuild subscription required]

– Nicholas Braun

The full version of this article is exclusively available to Mediabistro AvantGuild subscribers. If you’re not a member yet, register now for as little as $55 a year for access to hundreds of articles like this one, discounts on Mediabistro seminars and workshops, and all sorts of other bonuses.

If you follow the burgeoning startup scene in New York, Inc. may have some assignments for you. While Inc. occupies the same shelf space of other business publications like Entrepreneur, Fast Company and Forbes, the magazine has a distinction that separates itself from its competitors.

“We are a magazine about people who are incredibly passionate and have the will to start a business from scratch,” said Alexandra Brez, managing editor. ”We are different because of our sophistication, as well as our connection to and interest in community events. And we are a very likable brand. People are proud to be featured by us.”

For pitching guidelines and information on open sections, read How To Pitch: Inc.

This article is one of several mediabistro.com features exclusively available to AvantGuild subscribers. If you’re not a member yet, you can register for as little as $55 a year and get access to these articles, discounts on seminars and workshops, and more.

Just 32 days removed from declaring Chapter 11 bankruptcy, American Media, Inc. is hopeful that they will have their debt formally wiped away by 2011.  Publisher of major tabloids The National Enquirer and Star as well as fitness mags Shape and Flex, AMI filed for bankruptcy protection in November due to a decline in ad sales and circulation numbers.  According to Mediaweek, the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York gave the green light to AMI’s prepackaged financing plan — one which will lower the company’s $855 million debt by $355 million and increase profitability.

AMI chairman, president, and CEO David Pecker comes out as the big winner in all of this as he was awarded a long-term contract from AMI’s principal shareholders.  While AMI still will have to address the challenge of selling their title’s issues in a landscape where print costs are up and ad sales are down, Pecker is optimistic for the publisher’s future:

This will allow AMI to finally capitalize on all the digital opportunities available for our brands, continue to strengthen our print properties, expand our publishing services efforts and ultimately accomplish what my goal has always been — to build a major media company that will be among the industry’s elite.

Apparently the Manhattan Bankruptcy Court didn’t get the memo on the $50 limit for all secret Santa gifts.  $355 million is quite the holiday treat, surely enough to ignore the remaining $500 million of debt.

paidContent: News Corp. reported its second quarter earnings this afternoon, reporting a profit for the quarter and increases in most of its divisions, including — amazingly — the newspaper business, which saw a 29.5 percent gain.

Nieman Lab: According to this survey, hybrid media companies are the wave of the future.

MediaJobsDaily A new way for media companies to save money: ditch the office. Inc. magazine is trying a virtual office experiment this month.

MainStreet: Julia Allison says she’s a journalist, compares herself to Bob Woodward.

TMZ: Conan O’Brien plans to pay severance for some of his axed employees out of his own pocket.

Los Angeles Times: David Brown, former journalist, producer and husband of Cosmo editrix Helen Gurley-Brown, has died.

New York Times: Oprah Winfrey will star in a reality show about the end of her talk show once her cable net, OWN, debuts.

You’d never know it from the cuts across the board being made at publishers like Time Inc. and Forbes Media, but some of these companies’ titles are seeing a upswing in their readership. Lucia Moses of MediaWeek reported this week that Fortune, The Economist, Smart Money, The Wall Street Journal, Inc. and Forbes have all seen an increase in readers, ironically because of all the financial terror that has caused their publishers to make cuts in the first place.

So while audiences bemoan Rupert Murdoch‘s pay wall plans, following The Wall Street Journal model, the paper itself has seen an 11.6 percent growth in overall readership from last year. And while Fortune may be cutting as many as 40 staffers over the next several weeks as part of Time Inc.’s reduction plan and Forbes let go 100 employees just last month, the two magazines have grown to 4.1 million (9 percent increase) and 6 million (11.5 percent) in total readers, respectively. And with the current trend seeing unemployment still on the rise among executives, you can bet one place they won’t be cutting back: their subscriptions to business magazines. Maybe next year’s jump in readers will be big enough that these titles can actually hire back some of their emaciated newsroom.

Read More: Report: Business Magazines See Uptick in Readership

Previously: First on FBNY: Time Inc. Shutters Custom Pub Fortune Small Business, Forbes Layoffs Decimate Staff, Time Inc. Closes Door on Buyouts Today, WSJ Looks To Claim Title Of Number One Paper In Circulation

After tracking the upcoming BusinessWeek sale all summer, the magazine’s own media columnist Jon Fine has compiled all the known information about the transaction and put together this helpful guide.

So what do we know? The deadline for any interested parties to place a bid for the magazine is tomorrow. And Fine knows of at least seven potential bidders who have gotten debriefed by BusinessWeek execs and the management of the magazine’s owner, McGraw-Hill:

“They are New York Magazine owner Bruce Wasserstein; Fast Company and Inc. owner Joe Mansueto; and four private equity firms: Platinum Equity, Warburg Pincus, OpenGate Capital, and ZelnickMedia. The seventh player is Bloomberg LP, which despite having previously rebuffed McGraw-Hill in talks regarding a deal for BusinessWeek, apparently got very interested very quickly and is expected to meet with BusinessWeek management Monday, Sept. 14.”

Fine also said there are as many as three other unnamed parties who have shown interest, although he has been unable to dig up any info about them. (Know something? Send us an email.)

Read more

Over the past few weeks, BusinessWeek‘s own media columnist Jon Fine has been tracking the efforts by the magazine’s owner, McGraw-Hill, to sell the business pub.

Yesterday, he reported another possible bidder has entered the fray: Jon Mansueto, whose Mansueto Ventures also owns Inc. and Fast Company.

Mansueto has a history of buying magazines when they’re a good deal, Fine said. “In 2005 Mansueto bought Inc. and Fast Company from Gruner & Jahr for around $35 million in cash plus the assumption of certain liabilities,” he said.

Mansueto’s interest in BusinessWeek might have another explanation as well. John Byrne was editor of Fast Company when Manseuto purchased the magazine and he helped broker the deal that brought Fast Company and Inc. under Mansueto’s control. He left the company shortly thereafter to return to … BusinessWeek. He currently serves as executive editor of the magazine and editor-in-chief of Businessweek.com.

Meanwhile, as Fine previously reported, other parties are also interested in possibly making a bid for BusinessWeek and have taken meetings with the magazine’s management. New York magazine owner Bruce Wasserstein met with BusinessWeek insiders earlier this week, and three private equity firms have also shown an interest.

Read the whole story here.

Earlier: BusinessWeek Update: There Are Interest Parties

First on FishbowlNY: Steven Kotok, general manager of The Week‘s U.S. edition, is being promoted to president of The Week Publications, Inc. He has been with the magazine since 2002 and in his current position since 2007.

Kotok joined Dennis Publishing, which produces The Week, in 1996 and served as publisher of Maxim Books before joining the American version of the successful newsmagazine. It’s one of the few publications gaining advertising pages, posting double-digit percentage gain during the first quarter of 2009. Adweek named The Week No. 1 on its “10 Under 60″ Hot List.

In one of Kotok’s first moves as president, he announced a host of other new positions. Kevin Morgan is the new CFO, while Arielle Starkman joins as controller. David Weeks moves from The Economist to become international advertising director. Lori Crook joins as production director with Shelby Washington coming onboard as senior promotion manager.

Both releases are after the jump.

Read more

Well, it’s horrible outside today — at least it looks that way through our window — so it’s a perfect time to report that the AccuWeather will continue.

The United Stations Radio Networks, Inc. and The AccuWeather Radio Network renewed a partnership that allows the former to serve as the latter’s “affiliate relations and advertising sales team throughout the United States.”

“This partnership with United Stations will enable our affiliates to build ratings with exclusive forecasts and lively and engaging features, targeted specifically at each radio station’s unique format, market and listeners,” Evan Myers, AccuWeather’s chief operating officer, said in a statement.