MAIN NEWS HEADLINES
October 16 – October 23, 2008 Edition
F+W Media
Restructures
For Digital World
CINCINNATI, OH (Authorlink/10/15/08)– F+W Media, formerly known as F+W Publications, has reorganized the company around customer communities, replacing the old channel and product segments which divided the company into book and magazine divisions. The move will enable the company to push into the digital publishing and marketing arena.
F+W publishes Writers’ Digest among 50 magazines, and the company has about 4,000 books in print under various imprints. The eMedia division also includes online communities, services, and digital products, educational programs, conferences and competitions, both on and off the Internet.
Within the new structure, Sara Domville and David Blansfield will be presidents of the overall F+W Media company, overseeing 15 communities which center on specific types of content. Each of the communities, including books, magazines, online, digital products, and events, will be headed by a publisher and editorial director. They’ll report to F+W CEO David Nussbaum.
Each community will then have a leader reporting to the publisher and editorial director, and in turn to the presidents.
Reporting to Domville are: Fine Art, Jamie Markle; Crafts, Teri Mollison; Genealogy, Allison Stacy; Writing, Jane Friedman; Woodworking, Steve Shanesy. Domville also will oversee Adams Media and David & Charles, U.S. book Sales, and custom Publishing headed by Phil Sexton.
Reporting to David Blansfield are: Antiques & Collectibles, Dianne Wheeler; Automotive, Jeff Pozorski; Sports and Construction/Trade, Dean Listle; Numismatics, Scott Tappa; Design, David Sloan; Horticulture, Guy Gonzalez; Log Homes, Bob Rosen; Outdoors, Brad Rucks; Scuba Diving, Keith Phillips.
F+W CEO David Nussbaum plans to implement the changes by the end of the year and to begin seeing results in early 2009.
The changes reportedly will not affect the company’s current annual output of about 700-800 titles. However, Nussbaum expects to substantially increase the number of digital products the company publishes.
In an employee memo, Nussbaum said This is not business as usual. We have work to do to bring the business to where it needs to be, but I am confident with our new structure we will see gains in collaboration and innovation. And most importantly in todays tough economy, we will work harder to achieve our financial goals across the company.
