As the New York Times reports today, Hollywood trade publications have been slowly dying for years—due mainly to ever-decreasing ad revenues and stiff competition from blogs like Nikki Finke‘s Deadline Hollywood. The Hollywood Reporter, however, isn’t going down without a fight.

In an effort to give the publication a makeover, Richard Beckman, the owner of The Hollywood Reporter, has tapped Janice Min to become the magazine’s new editorial director. The move is the first step toward shifting the trade publication into a “slick weekly” aimed at more high-end readers. Previously, Min was editor-in-chief of Us Weekly from 2003 to 2009, during which the magazine’s circulation more than doubled.

Women’s Wear Daily reports that Us Weekly had a fine first week under Michael Steele, who filled in as the magazine’s acting editor-in-chief after Janice Min‘s departure in July. Steele’s first issue as acting EIC, which featured a cover story on Bachelorette cheating drama, “sold 1.1 million copies, outpacing Us Weekly’s single-copy sales by an average of 843,470 for the first half of 2009.”

One issue does not make a mandate, but it looks like Jann Wenner may have been right when he wagered that Us Weekly could flourish without Min.

Steve Murphy resigned yesterday as CEO of Rodale. Reports that Murphy’s $3MM a year contract is set to expire at the end of this year begs the question – was Murphy departure part of as a cost cutting plan? And are seven figure salaries in publishing becoming a thing of the past?

Turns out that money was the deciding factor behind Janice Min’s exit from Us Weekly, or so reports Women’s Wear Daily. Given that Min probably wouldn’t be able to pull down as much money at her next job (career?), everyone is still wondering where does she go after this?

The publishing world was abuzz yesterday wondering whether Min would soon be leaving the top spot of the wildly popular US Weekly magazine as her current contract comes to an end. Rumors were dismissed as a tactic for renegotiating her contract that was set to expire in two weeks. Late last night (East Coast time) Janice Min announced she was resigning her post as editor of US Weekly and Mediaite has her resignation letter in full.