This post might not seem like it’s about woodworking. But really, it is.
For almost 10 years, I worked with Linda Watts, who was the art director for Popular Woodworking Magazine and the ill-fated Woodworking Magazine. She came to us on the recommendation of Nick Engler, who had hired her for his company, Bookworks. It was Bookworks that published the Workshop Companion series of books, which were crazy runaway bestsellers in the how-to category of books.
Before that, Linda had been the founding designer for Hands On! magazine at Shopsmith.
Which is to say that no one I know has more experience with woodworking publishing than Linda Watts. She was publishing woodworking magazines and books when I was still in (ahem) puberty.
And I know why she has been in the business for so long. She is pure backbone – my highest compliment. (What does that make me? The spleen, I think.)
In publishing, it’s always the designers who have to make up for the late authors and the slow editors, photographers and illustrators. In the 10 years I worked with Linda, we never missed a press deadline as far as I know. And the reason was that Linda would work like a demon to ensure every story was laid out, looked good and was press-ready.
When I twice said I wanted to redesign the magazine, Linda didn’t blink or even raise her eyebrows. She just did it – without the help of expensive outside consultants. And every time she reworked her previous design work, she managed to make it look even better.
She is impeccably organized and neat – as is her design work. My cubicle was next to hers for many years, and I always felt like the Oscar Madison to her Felix Unger.
But most of all, Linda was always unflappable. She took withering criticism without as much as a twitch. She never complained about her work load, the fact that editors rarely met deadlines or our questionable grammar (she’s a damn-good copy editor, too).
So today was a hard day for all of us who know Linda.
F+W Media Inc. laid her off during a company reorganization. Her last day is Friday, so a bunch of Popular Woodworking employees and alums took her out to lunch today. Through most of the lunch the group kept up with some lighthearted chatter. But as we neared the end of the meal, the table fell silent for Linda to speak.
She couldn’t. She started a couple times and managed to say: “When I moved down here you guys became my family. I feel like I’m losing my family.”
My drive home from that lunch was tough. I can’t believe that someone as skilled and easy to work with could ever be laid-off, dismissed or fired. If it weren’t for Linda, Popular Woodworking Magazine would not be the fine publication that it is today. It might not have actually come out seven times a year if it weren’t for Linda’s hard work. And it definitely wouldn’t have looked as good.
So thank you, Linda. You will be missed at the artistic helm of Popular Woodworking Magazine.
But this story does have a hopeful ending. I think you can look for Linda Watts’s name on several upcoming Lost Art Press books.
— Christopher Schwarz
That stinks, I hate to see anyone lose their job – especially when they are good at it.
Best wishes Linda.
A stunningly classy send off.
I hope Lost Art somehow finds a lot of work for her!
Popular Woodworking’s loss is Lost Art Press’s gain. . . again.
I can’t read a story like this without becoming really agitated. Screw F+W. Good luck Linda.
I’m glad to hear Linda is working for Lost Art Press!! Keep up the good fight!
I hate to say it, but I’ve learned no one is indispensable. Happy to hear she will offer her talents to you and John.
So with you leaving, Linda leaving….does that mean that PW will be going away?
Really, What is going on down there…. If that mag takes a dive I guess I will subscribe to the British rags…. The hobby mags for us ( hand toolers ) in this country is starting to crumble… I can’t bring my self to order a subscription to a few of the paper wasters , and the only other good one is priced like gold and gets thinner every few months, and repeats the same topics about every two years ( good photos of reader work though ) . Popular Woodworking is the only one that gets dropped in my mailbox…..Let’s hope it stays that way!
The quality and style of the artwork has so much to communicate, it’s the frame and atmosphere that influences how contents understood. I’m afraid I don’t understand this one.
one can only wonder what is happening with all the changes of personnel in the last few months….the magazine seems to be a a path of self destruction……………
Dale et al,
Magazines are like Communist regimes. There is some serious turnover at times, and PW was long, long overdue. It’s just the nature of the business. Don’t read too much into these changes. I’m still a contributing editor, there are lots of good editors and writers working there and Linda will still have work as long as I breathe.
But I do have to salute my comrade of 10 years. That is what this is about.
I’d like to reply to the idea that it’s in the nature of business to have ‘communist’ style purges, and that this one was over due. I think the real issue with firing long term, respected senior workers is simply reducing labor costs. This is the long term goal of the factory method and of capitalism. MBA are drilled on this. The sequence of events might have gone more like this:
F+W Media is a conglomerate corporation made up of a dozen or more niche publications based in Cincinnati including a few nationally published magazines like Popular Woodworking (also based in Cincinnati). F+W is owned by the ABRY Group. The who group? What do they do? An equity investment (i.e.,venture capital/ i.e., sharks) firm in Boston that specializes in ‘media’ investments. They manage well over a billion in assets. They own tons of stuff. Muzak for one. And F+W Media. The conversation about F+W media in their conference room is rather ‘remote’. “The institutions and firms that invest their funds with us expect a competitive rate of return. We need to accelerate the short term profit in our portfolio to maintain our market share.” All very reasonable and business like. The word goes out from Peni Garber, ABRY finance director in Boston to several ‘portfolio assets’ including F+W Media in Cincinnati to look for ‘cost containment opportunities’. Her request goes to Jim Ogle, CFO of F+W Media who ‘motivates’ Amy Meyer, Vice President, Human Resources to liberate her creativity and contribute to the firm’s bottom line. Amy in turns reads between the lines and knows what to do. She looks at the roster of hundreds of employees and and sees that Linda Watts (middle aged) has been with the Popular Woodworking for almost 10 years. She now has one of the higher salaries for her position and maybe a generous health plan. Amy makes a list of 5 more positions at various publications she thinks can be either eliminated or consolidated based on the labor cost savings…not efficiency or quality of work. What needs to happen is to find someone who’s job can be eliminated and work load parsed out and maybe even done by an intern. She picks the most vulnerable people politically…with no repercussions within the corporate culture. She fax’s the managing editor at Popular Woodworking Megan Fitzpatrick and simply states that ‘Corporate’ wants cost cuts and here are her ‘suggestions’. Let her know when when it is completed so she can report back … Megan knows all the people on the list. She also knows the political landscape. Maybe she talks to the magazine’s chief editor Matthew Teague and gets some vague feedback about how ‘those corporate guys don’t get it’. She likes Linda but Linda was on the list, nothing personal. Whatever the chain of command several termination notices go out including an email to Linda Watts.Linda is out of a job in middle age, and likely will never earn as much again. Megan reports to Matt who reports to Amy who reports to Jim who reports back to Peni at ABRY who later after including the results in the agenda of a board meeting is directed to have it published in the next public stock brochure so they can say that this year ABRY was able to lower short term operating costs in many of it’s portfolio assets and therefore created efficiencies that added value to the investment portfolio for it’s investors. Peni gets a nice bump up in her yearly performance bonus. A few months later A Bank of America investment analysts reads this brochure and feels slightly reassured that his butt is covered on the percentage of assets that his group has put in to the ABRY portfolio. No one outside of the magazine editorial staff knows Linda Watts or cares. The perfect corporate non event. Nothing personal. After Linda’s farewell luncheon all the good people who know and respect her goes back to work feeling shitty for the rest of the day.
The corporate American way. Nothing soviet about it…is there?
David Miller, your response deserves framing – nicely put!
Linda, thanks for all your hard work. All of us appreciated reading the magazine. They sure will have some big shoes to fill. All the best to ya!
Linda: This seems like the sort of work that can be done from anywhere and I’ve never seen a better letter of recommendation. I’m sure this is a new beginning at something better. I sure love your work, especially the Woodwork magazine and the new and improved Popular Woodworking. Good luck. I’ll pass on any leads.
Sometimes it is hard to fathom such decisions, but it seems that PW’s loss will be Lost Art Press’ gain in this instance. The recognition in this post says it all. One one door closes another opens and I am sure Linda soon find another challenge and the success that brings particularly with Chris’ support.
So sad to hear about this, an unsung hero in our little world treated this way. Glad to see that you have the great backing of Chris and many others I am sure.I only hope the mother company realizes and truely regrets the mistake after you have found your happier place.
I always take pause with news like this – storieswhich are common today and with past generations perhaps more so. But one nagging question remains: Who does the work once the key person is gone? This reminds me of a story my Father told me many years ago, about his brother-in-law, a depression era boot-strapped educated accountant, who was terminated at one of the Big Steel companies after 20-some years of service. Eventually, the company had to hire two younglings to cover his departure.
That is a real shame. I really think the transformation of Popular Woodworking in that time was remarkable. It went from being a publication I found cluttered and irrelevant, which I would not even bother to browse most of the time, to a magazine that I now subscribe to and now usually enjoy more than FWW. Management should be very reluctant to break up the constellation of talent that led to that turnaround.
PW better not start sucking like that other magazine that I used to read regularly (and no longer subscribe to.) I subscribe because it’s good information and balanced between hand and power. I look forward to every issue. The point of this post is not lost on me, Chris, I appreciate that you want to recognize a co-worker that you admire. However, fans of the magazine like myself are going to be wary of the changes. The quality of the individuals contributing made the magazine what it is.
Linda, I wish you much success in your future!
Chris, Thanks for being a good example of the type of person we need more of in this country!
-Pete
Best Wishes, Linda! Your work will be truly missed.
Linda–We are recently in a similar situation. All I can say is that hindsight has proven that it was a wonderful thing. It is God closing a chapter that we might not have closed without a nudge. We were on a path of dying before we were dead. The future we can’t see, but will evolve into something better if you have kindness and integrity (Which you obviously do according to Chris)
Good luck!
Yea, that was me and it was BRUTAL … still is. My wife’s best advice was to not panic, don’t react, instead take the time to plan your next move. To Chis and the rest of The Machanicals I will say that all the quick notes, the texts, phone calls, lunch or drinks, and classy farewells, every gesture irregardless of how small MATTER and help.
Chris……….Never having been in the newspaper/magazine/publishing business I will accept your
“necessary transition” theory, but my history lessions remind me most,if not all-coup d’ etats, only help those at the top…..the citizens are left holding the bag…or in our case, the readers are left holding what’s left of a once fine magazine……..
all the best !
Maybe Lost Art Press should produce a hand tool only periodical?
I have always believed Woodworking Magazine to be the superior publication and would raise my pint of Stout in a show of support. And less conspicuously, the wallet.
I second that!
In response to the business case made above, I have been a woodworker for nearly 60 years and I have never heard of that magazine. I have not bought a woodworking magazine in 10 years. I work wood, I don’t read about it in magazines. I didn’t even know there were any dead tree versions of woodworking magazines still being produced. Don’t care. Wouldn’t buy one. Don’t want to own one. Use my old ones to start the fire in the stove. Seriously, who would even consider working in such an archaic business?
It’s that whole Ayn Rand sensibility has swept across corporations. Bet the board room discussion went like this, ‘ She’s really good- but do you know what we are paying her….. Wow… that’s three dollars over minimum wage.. For her wages, we could get three people in India.. come on.. We’ve already lot Chistopher Schwarz…we’ve toast!’
Have you read much Ayn Rand? I fail to see how that sensibility has anything to do with her philosophies- unless you’re referring to the antagonists in her books. Check back after reading Atlas Shrugged and tell me if you think Hank Reardon and Dagny Taggart would run their corporations this way.
Cultivating a community that bands together and supports a member that catches a bad break is key in these times. I mean something much different than having a Rolodex of contacts to help you find your next job. The kind of community I’m speaking of is much stronger than a Rolodex and isn’t shaken by the changing face of circumstance.
One thing the community can do is help the person find “clearness.” “Clearness Committees” are used in Quakerism, but most of the process can be applied to secular settings. A brief description is given at http://www.fgcquaker.org/ao/toolbox/guidelines-clearness-committees
Thanks to Chris for bringing Linda’s talents to light. Perhaps his post will lead to additional opportunities for Linda.