Citing slumping fourth-quarter sales from its international travel lines, Globe Pequot Press has initiated a companywide restructuring that has eliminated 13 positions from its workforce of 150. Dana Baylor, v-p for marketing at Globe, said the cuts came in all areas. "Every department took a little hit," she said.
The company, based in Guilford, Conn., will continue to maintain an office in Helena, Mont., but will close its New York City office this spring, a move that is not part of the current restructuring. Globe added the New York facility when it acquired Lyons Press last year (News, Jan. 29, 2001), and Baylor said the company had always intended to shut the office some time in 2002. Tony Lyons will remain as a Globe v-p and publisher of Lyons Press.
Globe, through its Globe Pequot, FalconGuides and Lyons Press imprints, released about 550 new titles last year and plans to publish approximately the same number in 2002. Baylor noted that most of the foreign travel titles sold through Globe are from its distribution clients and that sales of Globe's domestic travel titles as well as its outdoor books held steady last year. Despite the decline in international sales, Baylor said Globe expects to again carry about 425 titles from its publisher clients and continues to look to add appropriate publishers to its distribution ranks.
Baylor is hopeful that the international travel book market will improve as the year progresses. To give its domestic travel line a boost, the company is developing a new imprint that will encompass all Globe's domestic travel products. Baylor hopes to unveil the name of the imprint before the end of the year.
