Tuttle Publishing has laid off the sales, marketing, publicity and production staff members who were based at the company's Boston offices. Twelve out of 17 Boston-based employees, including sales director Steve Fischer and marketing director David Goldberg, were let go. All operations have been transferred to Tuttle's distribution center in North Clarendon, Vt., except editorial, which will remain in Boston under the direction of recently hired publishing director Ed Walters.
Owner Eric Oey told PW the consolidation was "something that we'd been thinking about for some time. We feel we can do things more efficiently under one roof. The economic realities helped us make the final decision."
As part of the restructuring, senior v-p of finance and operations Michael Sargent has been promoted to general manager to oversee the Vermont office. He will report to Oey. Only a handful of new employees are expected to be hired in the Vermont office to replace those laid off; instead, most staff members will add to their current responsibilities.
Tuttle's fulfillment clients, which include Chelsea Green Publishing Company, will be unaffected by the changes. Its only distribution client, Fair Winds Press, an imprint of Rockport Publishers Inc. in Gloucester, Mass., has not yet decided if it will stay on.
Tuttle's downsizing came after a significant drop in sales. According to one insider, the company's sales had been down about 10% since January, but its sales plummeted after September 11.
Despite the personnel cutbacks, Tuttle has not canceled any of its fall titles, and the spring catalogue, which is currently at the printer, is going forward as planned. Walters told PW, "Everything under contract we're going to publish, and we're going to continue to actively acquire." The focus on Asian books will also remain the same.
