Turning up the Heat

Emap chief executive Kevin Hand resigned yesterday, after announcing massive losses in America . But, in Britain, one corner of the publishing empire has never seen such success .

Rachel Cooke reports

READERS of Heat don 't bother themselves too much about the plight of publishing chief executives who, upon seeing a balance sheet showing a pre-tax loss of 527 million (and regretting a foolish 850 million foray into the American market), hand in their cards . Their concerns are a little more amusing than the dramatic departure yesterday of Emap 's Kevin Hand . A disgruntled fan recently emailed a letter to the group 's weekly celeb magazine . It said: "Geri, Billie, Posh, Chris, Geri, Billie, Geri, Geri, Posh, Billie, Geri, Chris, Billie are there any other celebrities on the planet? Who would I like to see banished to a desert island?

See above . "

Amazingly, this letter made it to publication which probably tells you everything you need to know about the confidence Heat 's editorial team have in their magazine . Buoyed up by a circulation of 172, 000 an increase of an amazing 137 per cent on the previous six months Heat 's close-knit staff are well aware that, certain grumpy e- mailers excepted, most people just can 't get enough of Geri (Halliwell), Billie (Piper)and co .

"I 'm always being asked when the bottom is going to fall out of the celebrity market, "says Heat 's editor, Mark Frith . "But the truth is, I don 't believe it will . "He is, he says rather too diplomatically, "fascinated "by the fact that Martin Townsend, formerly of OK!, has recently been appointed editor of the Sunday Express by the owner of both titles, Richard Desmond . "That the editor of a celebrity title has been made the editor of a national newspaper shows how important and all-consuming the entertainment world is now . In a year 's time, I think the number of celebrity magazines out there will have doubled . People are bound to look at our ABC figures and be tempted to try to copy us . Luckily, we have what I like to call secret ingredient X . "

Frith, who won Editor of the Year at the PPA annual magazine awards earlier this month, won 't be drawn on what exactly "secret ingredient X "is, but points out that everything in his magazine from the picture captions to the features is written in the same knowing, slightly mocking style . "Our sense of humour that 's what 's unique about us, "he says . "Our readers are intelligent people who, once a week, enjoy indulging in reading a little gossip, the same way we all do . The Heat staff really just consists of 25 readers . We come into the office on a Monday morning and say:'Did you see so-and-so?' Then we put a picture of the person in question straight into the magazine . That 's the trick . "

But, as he would be the first to admit, this was a trick that it took him and his colleagues a while to learn . When Emap launched Heat two years ago, it was nothing like the roaring success it is today; on two occasions, the management was on the verge of closing it down .

"At the outset, we said very publicly that we were aiming for a settle-down figure of 100, 000 sales a week, "says Frith . "But we didn 't get anywhere near that at first . About six weeks in, we had to come clean and admit we were only selling around 60, 000 . With a weekly, the financial implications of being that far off target are huge . So we had to turn it around .

What we did was to move it away from being an entertainment title the word 'entertainment 'has a highbrow feel to it and turn it into a celebrity title . We made it more flashy and picture-led . "Once redesigned, Emap also invested in an expensive advertising campaign .

Heat is aimed at twentysomethings who find magazines such as Hello! and OK! too kitsch and middle-aged . Each week, it dishes up a mix of insider gossip (who 's dating who, who 's divorcing who)and celebrity fashion (the worst frocks and the best), as well as plenty of advice on what to watch on television and at the cinema (it also has a seven-day TV guide) . If you want to know the state of play between Tom Cruise and Nicole Kid-man, or where Christina Aguilera gets her truly terrible outfits, Heat will try to provide you with at least some of the answers not to mention countless pictures of Geri Halliwell 's tummy and Robbie Williams 's underpants .

"Our readers buy the tabloids although they probably don 't really trust them, "says Frith .

"So a dream cover story for us would promise an exclusive look round the new home of Victoria and David Beckham . But a lot of our dream covers have already become a reality .

The big celebrity agents and PRs have been very supportive of us right from the beginning . Compared to the tabloids, we 're nicer to deal with, we 're glossy and we 're a little bit cooler . "

HIS favourite cover so far, however, featured an almost- celebrity: Darius, the real star of ITV 's Pop-stars series (he of the goatee beard and dodgy Britney Spears songs) . "We got Darius on the cover the Tuesday after he was kicked out of the auditions, " says Frith . . "Right when everyone was talking about him . That was an example of Heat at its sassy best . "

Frith, 31, began his career at the Polytechnic of East London, where he edited the student newspaper, Overdraught . Halfway through his degree, he went to Smash Hits to do some work experience; he ended up staying for four and a half years, eventually becoming the magazine 's editor . He then took the helm at Sky . So, now that Heat is such a hit, is he ready to move on?

Apparently not .

"I feel as if I have only just begun, "he says .

"There 's nothing else I 'd rather do at the moment . I 'd like to take Heat 's circulation to 250, 000 by the end of the year and then, next year, to 300, 000 . There 's a natural momentum to this magazine . It 's a word of mouth thing;people are telling their friends about it . We 'll be releasing the next ABC figures in the autumn, and I confidently expect ours to be well over 200, 000 . No one 's infallible, but we 're determined to go on delivering the hottest magazine on the stands week in, week out . "

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