By Jason Fell
A pair of regional magazines
reported layoffs Thursday.
The company that owns Dallas,
Texas-based D magazine has laid off 12 staffers, or about 12 percent of its
overall workforce, executive editor Tim Rogers wrote in a blog
post. The cuts were made at D and its ancillary magazines: D Home, D CEO, D
Weddings, D Beauty.
The cuts come a little more than
three months after the publisher laid off
29 staffers, which at the time represented about 19 percent of its
workforce. “When we retrenched in November, we made our cuts based on what we
thought at the time was a fairly pessimistic view of how the economy would hold
up in 2009,” Rogers wrote in the post. “Reality has proven that we were
actually not pessimistic enough.”
Meanwhile, Rockport, Maine-based
Down East Enterprise Inc.—publisher of Down East magazine—said
“about a half dozen” employees were laid off as part of a restructuring, or
about 12 percent of its workforce. President Bob Fernald cited the a decline in
real estate advertising and the company’s recent
sale of Performance Media LLC, publisher of Speedway Illustrated magazine,
as reasons fur the cuts.
About a dozen more employees will have their workweek reduced or be shifted to “independent-contractor status,” the company said.
Down East also publishes Fly Rod
& Reel and Shooting Sportsman magazines.
Freelancers Call for Boycott of
New Reader’s Digest Association Magazines
By Jason Fell
A small group of U.S. freelance writers is calling for a boycott of
Fresh Home and Best You, two new magazines published by the Reader’s Digest
Association.
The issue, according to
the group, is that repurposing content from abroad reduces working
opportunities for U.S.-based freelancers. Fresh Home, a quarterly home
improvement title that RDA launched
late last month, repurposes editorial from the publisher’s Australian title The
Family Handyman, while the soon-to-launch Best You repurposes editorial from
Best Health, which RDA launched in Canada
last year.
Organizer Meg Weaver, who runs
Woodenhorse Publishing, said writers are asking other writers, family and
friends not to purchase the magazines. “We want to make Fresh Home and Best You
RDA’s most spectacular flops,” Weaver wrote in a statement.
“What caught my eye was the
interview of RDA's Alyce Alston by Samir Husni in which Ms. Alston stated
that without ‘repurposing’ material, these magazines would not have been able
to launch,” Weaver told FOLIO:. “This didn't ring true to me, as writing
fees have become miniscule compared to the budget of a 300,000 circ
magazine. So, I asked for clarification and, eventually, received an
answer, which basically said: We don't care where we get our content.”
In an e-mail to Weaver posted
on the Woodenhorse Web site, RDA’s Home & Garden and Health & Wellness
Group editor-in-chief Neil Wertheimer defended RDA, describing it as one of the
“largest and proudest users of freelance writers in America.” He indicated that
just two short features and seven do-it-yourself projects were repurposed.
“All other content was original
and written either by American freelancers or American staff editors,”
Wertheimer wrote. “Our freelancers were paid very fair and competitive wages
under contracts they happily signed. Yes, we did use work-for-hire contracts,
but that is because the articles we commissioned were OUR ideas, and we pitched
them to the writers. Frankly, they were thrilled to get the work and to
participate in the launch of a great new magazine.”
“That is a deplorable attitude of a major publisher,” Weaver said. “ I would like to change that and start a communication between writers and publishers to arrive at a more equitable situation that will be a win for everybody, including the readers.”
"Ms. Weaver’s accusations
serve no one, especially writers," an RDA spokesperson told FOLIO:.
"Worse still, she chose to further disseminate these statements in a press
release even after being made aware of the facts. So it's a small amount
of ado about nothing."
In a previously announced partnership with Saddleback Valley Community Church pastor Rick Warren, RDA in January launched the Purpose Driven Connection, a quarterly magazine featuring all original content.