The toughest decision in Tom Thornton's 33-year career with Andrews McMeel Publishing was to outsource the company's warehouse and fulfillment operation to Simon & Schuster in 2002. The move eliminated 110 positions, "but it was best for the company," said Thornton, who will retire at the end of 2005 as AMP president and CEO. The AMP warehouse had been antiquated, and partnering with S&S allowed the publisher to get access to state-of-the-art technology without a large upfront investment, Thornton explained.
If outsourcing was Thornton's hardest call, the decision in 1979 to add a second sales force that would sell to gift stores was, said Thornton, "a defining moment. Not only did it increase our distribution, but it led us into different product areas." The most important new segment for the book publisher was calendars, which now account for about half of AMP's annual sales. The company publishes some 165 calendars a year, and while many are drawn from comics syndicated by AMP's affiliated company Universal Press Syndicate, AMP also publishes calendars from UPS rivals such as King Features and Universal Media, whose Dilbert character is one of AMP's top-selling calendars.
The company's book division has stayed focused on gift and humor books, plus some family-oriented titles, such as Miracle, the Anne Geddes/Celine Dion book/CD package that sold 250,000 copies at $60 last year. AMP will follow up Miracle in September with Celine Dion: Follow Your Dreams, an authorized biography by Jenna Glatzer.
Much of AMP's book line has a Main Street USA feel, which reflects the company's Kansas City roots. Thornton acknowledged that at one time AMP "tried to hide" its KC location, "but now we embrace it."
Thornton is handing off his leadership role at AMP's to Hugh Andrews, v-p of sales and marketing, who will become president and COO July 1 and add the CEO title next January. Andrews's first task is to conduct a search for a publisher for AMP's book division, since Thornton had served in that role, although without the title. Andrews said he hopes to have someone on board by July.
Andrews, son of the late Jim Andrews, one of AMP's cofounders, said 2004 was one of the best years in AMP history, highlighted by another strong year for sales of the two-volume, $135 The Complete Far Side. First released in 2003, Far Side has sold a total of 300,000 copies. Andrews said the company's recently completed strategic plan calls for expanding in its core areas, book and calendar publishing, through both internal growth and acquisitions. AMP is also looking to expand internationally and to add to its distribution operation. Its big book for the fall will be the three-volume, $150 The Complete Calvin & Hobbes, which will have a first printing of 250,000.
