Interweave sews up joint venture

LOVELAND — Interweave Press Inc. has entered a joint-venture partnership with Rodale Press and its wholly owned subsidiary, Leman Publications Inc., which could boost subscriptions to some of the company˜s magazines by more than 400 percent.
The agreement concerns Herb Companion and Herbs for Health, two of seven magazines published by Loveland-based Interweave. The company will continue to produce the magazines, and Leman Publications of Golden will take over distribution, marketing and sales of the publications, said Logan Chamberlain, executive vice president and publisher for Interweave and CEO and president of the new joint company Herb Companion Press LLC.
"When Leman approached us, we saw it as a way to solidify our place in this hot market and gain rapid growth," Chamberlain said. "They have a tremendous amount of direct-mailing expertise and marketing clout needed to build the magazines˜ subscription base."
Leman Publications, a $12 million company specializing in quilting publications, has already sent out two direct-mail packages to test portions of the market for the two health magazines and plans a much larger direct-mail campaign in January.
"Our business plan predicts that within five years, subscriptions for both magazines will be 200,000 plus," said Kip Wotkyns, president of Leman.
That figure might be low compared with the 1.3 million subscribers who receive Prevention Magazine, one of Rodale˜s most popular publications, but it would be a vast improvement over the Herb Companion˜s current newsstand sales of 40,000 per issue.
"Interweave is a wonderful company with publishing skills that are above reproach, but they lack the capital and expertise to take their magazines to this level," Wotkyns said. "Growth at the rate we anticipate could make them a lot of money in a short period of time."
The joint venture is the first such partnership for all three companies. Presidents of the companies will serve as the partnership˜s board of directors, and Chamberlain describes the organization itself as a virtual company with no employees of its own. Profits from the two publications will be split evenly.
Interweave president and primary stockholder Linda Ligon started the company out of her home 22 years ago. A former Fort Collins school teacher, Ligon said she was inspired by Bonnie Leman, who launched Leman Publications from her kitchen table almost 30 years ago.
In addition to the two herb magazines, Interweave publishes several other magazines and books with an emphasis on traditional hand crafts such as weaving and knitting. The company employs 65 people and will continue to operate out of its 30,000-square-foot building at Fourth Street and Cleveland Avenue in Loveland.
Chamberlain expects to hire more sales, marketing and editorial staff in the coming year and anticipates annual revenue growth of 20 percent or more, up from last year˜s earnings of $9.5 million.
Leman Publications, which publishes the Quilters Newsletter, Quiltmaker magazine and a quilting catalog, Quilts and Other Comforts, hopes to reach its goal of $50 million in revenues within five years. Interweave is a big part of that growth plan, Wotkyns said.
Rodale Press, a family-owned, $500 million company in Pennsylvania, publishes such popular magazines as Prevention, Men˜s Health and Organic Gardening.