Llewellyn Publications, St. Paul, Minn., has announced a round of cuts that includes layoffs of nearly 10% of its employees and the sale of Fate magazine, the 53-year-old digest of the unexplained that Llewellyn acquired in 1988. Llewellyn is one of the oldest and largest New Age publishers in the country, with 125 employees before the downsizing, and gross sales of more than $16 million in 2000.
Employees were told of the layoffs on July 13, and the cuts—involving a total of 13 positions—were across the company, according to publicity manager Lisa Braun. Affected employees were offered severance packages based on length of service.
"Obviously, we're doing some streamlining and implementing new strategies in response to market conditions," Braun said. "We remain optimistic about the company's overall direction."
Publisher and company president Carl Llewellyn Weschcke explained to PW that the company "had gotten used to strong sales growth the last couple years, and 2001 has not seen that pattern. Like everyone else, we're trying to become more efficient, and the restructuring should allow us to concentrate more fully on our primary mission, which is publishing books."
Llewellyn sold Fate to editor-in-chief Phyllis Galde, who will run the magazine out of her Galde Press headquarters in Lakeville, Minn. Three of the job cuts were related to the magazine.
Weschcke emphasized that the company will continue to commit more resources to its sales and marketing departments and it plans to increase its title count this year over last.
