Anyone shopping for fantasy baseball draft guides this week will find a new entry into the space from an outlet with a familiar name.

For the first time, USA Today has produced a glossy fantasy baseball preview magazine, which was available for sneak peek at last week’s Fantasy Sports Trade Association “experts” draft (and a big help to those of us who might have come less prepared).

“The baseball guide is part of an overall magazine strategy,” USA Today fantasy sports editor Pete O’Brien told FSB.com. “We’re launching a variety of new magazines this year covering several topics. Given USA Today’s national reach and historical importance in the development of fantasy sports, fantasy magazines were a very logical part of the magazine program.”

Entering such a market figures to be a challenge, as multiple existing producers of fantasy magazines target breaking even in cost of production. CBS Sports saw fit in recent seasons to take its preview magazines off the shelves and present them in electronic form only.

Still, the myriad publications that continue to show up must mean that there is money to be made, and it’s tough to find fault with the quality of USA Today’s debut.

In addition to the common features such as player capsules and position rankings, as well as writing from USA Today and fantasy veteran Steve Gardner, the magazine presents articles from a number of reputable fantasy outlets. Writers from KFFL, Baseball HQ, Baseball-Reference.com, Mastersball, RotoExperts, Fantasy Pros 911 and KeeperLeagueGM.com all join the USA Today staff.

It doesn’t take tireless tracking of the fantasy industry to conclude that a fair amount of baseball knowledge resides within that group. What might be less obvious, though, is that every one of those sites is a member of Fantasy Sports Ventures’ Fantasy Players Network.

“Gannett owns a piece of FSV and we are happy to collaborate with them in print, radio and television,” O’Brien said, referring to USA Today’s parent company. “We’ve worked with FSV in football, baseball and basketball for both fantasy and non-fantasy content.”

What this and other forays — O’Brien said a fantasy football guide will show up later this year as well — ultimately mean for the company’s bottom line will remain to be seen. At the least, though, the addition of fantasy magazines shows the commitment to the fantasy sports segment of the business in a dying market for newspapers.

A roundup of items recently posted on the FSB News page.

– FantasyFanatics.com announced Tuesday that Mike Pera, owner of FantasyDraftTools.com, won the site’s inaugural preseason rankings game, which provides Pera an entry into the 2010 World Championship of Fantasy Football field.

– Ready to move on to the next big fantasy regular season but can’t remember when things got going last time? This blogger at FantasyHurler.com has the dates on which the big boys launched fantasy baseball each of the past two years. Looks like CBSSports.com is a solid bet to toe the rubber first.

– For those of us who can’t bear to be separated from the ups and downs of our fantasy football squads come Sundays (and most Mondays, some Thursdays and a few Saturdays) each fall, a convergence of computer, television and mobile phone will soon help keep you in touch (or is that out of touch) no matter what you’re doing.

– The initial report is about a month old, unfortunately, but Fantasy Sports Ventures has teamed up with the U.S. Olympic Committee to develop and distribute a widget aimed at promoting the members of Team USA for next month’s winter Olympics.

– This concept might come closest to embodying a real-life fantasy offering: A Florida businessman wants to build an actual football league around a reality television start. Players would try out to qualify for a spot on the fan ballot, and viewers would select eight teams to then compete for a title. The public would also serve as team owners. Sounds interesting

Send all of your news, job postings, stories and profile ideas to FantasySportsBusiness@gmail.com. Follow us on Twitter (FSBcom).

A roundup of recent posts on the FSB News page.

– Josh Bousquet of the Worcester Telegram didn’t like FX’s “The League” either.

– For those interested in taking their fantasy play beyond the field/court/ice/track/etc., the Fantasy Fund Manager game that’s operated under the JP Morgan umbrella doles out £35,000 to its winner.

– Fantasy Sports Ventures CEO Chris Russo was featured in today’s “What I Like” profile by Sports Business Journal.

Send all of your news, job postings, stories and profile ideas to FantasySportsBusiness@gmail.com. Follow us on Twitter (FSBcom).

A roundup of recent posts on the FSB News page.

– NFL.com general manager Laura Goldberg will be at the Nov. 12 NewTeeVee Live conference to talk the big business of fantasy football.

– Forbes.com recently posted a video in which national editor Michael Ozanion chats with Fantasy Sports Ventures founder Chris Russo about his company and the fantasy industry. Speaking of FSV, the company made its first actual investment in gaming in late September, when it purchased 25 games from RealTime Fantasy Sports. FSV also recently added Orangecast Social Media to its lineup.

– NovaFantasySports.com recently announced a content agreement that will place its NFL news on PlayerPress.com’s homepage.

– The Hartford Courant’s website now features the Game Forecast service provided by Accuscore.

– We may not even be to the World Series yet this year, but Sporting News already wants to know what will be on your mind for the 2010 baseball season. The staff is soliciting questions from readers for the next yearbook, offering a free copy for any query that makes it into print.

Send all of your news, job postings, stories and profile ideas to FantasySportsBusiness@gmail.com. Follow us on Twitter (FSBcom).