The Bookseller.com

7th September 2008

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Walker trims staff and list

19.06.08 Caroline Horn

Walker Books has confirmed the loss of 10 jobs as part of a restructure that has also seen its output trimmed by 10%.

The positions have been cut from a number of departments and eight of the 10 redundancies were voluntary, according to m.d. Helen McAleer. "We have been realigning and refocusing the business," she said. "The positions we have cut come from across the business and reflect the reduction in our output." Walker now employs 128 people.

Publishing director Jane Winterbotham said the cuts in output would affect re-issues rather than Walker's frontlist. The company currently publishes around 300 titles per annum and the cutback will affect 2009 output.

Walker aims to focus on areas of growth, including its fiction, picture books and novelty output. "We are building up our fiction output, both literary and commercial, and that area is growing," said McAleer.

Walker Books is also building its high-end novelty list and television tie-in titles. The growth in these departments has led to the creation of two new senior- editorial roles, one in the fiction department to develop graphic novels output, and the other to focus on novelty and picture books.

The company is also focusing on new media through its Walker Productions initiative and hopes to secure a broadcasting deal shortly for its first tele-vision programme proposal, "Hugglewugs", based on a book by Niamh Sharkey.

"The main focus of the business remains books but we do want to offer our authors and illustrators something a bit different," said McAleer. "One of the areas we believe we can do that is in developing projects ourselves from our own properties."

Walker aims to adopt a partnership approach to each project, said McAleer. The "Hugglewugs" project involves a partnership between Walker Books, Brown Bag production company and Sharkey.

This week Walker also launched its re-designed website with new areas for children and adults, and a section to find out about authors and artists. "It is much more consumer-focused with offers, monthly updates and competitions," added McAleer.

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