By Cliff Peale
The Cincinnati Enquirer

Photographer Christine Polomsky demonstrates with author Terry Rye how they put together a "how-to" book, in this case on dry floral arrangements, at F&W's in-house photo studio in Sycamore Township. (Craig Ruttle photo) | ZOOM |

SYCAMORE TWP. - F&W Publications Inc. covers everything from dried flowers to deer hunting, but the formula remains the same for each of its publications.

The firm has acquired six other companies since 1999. The latest purchase - Boston-based publisher Adams Media Corp. this summer - pushed F&W's annual sales to about $275 million.

With most of the purchases, F&W has added new titles and pushed marketing of book clubs and conferences to capitalize on existing titles. And more deals are coming, which should drive F&W toward a goal of $500 million in sales by 2008, president Stephen Kent said.

"Once you get in the 500 to 700-million-dollar range in this business, that's when everything begins to optimize," Kent said.

Based in Cincinnati since its founding in 1913, F&W is the biggest mover in this year's Greater Cincinnati 100 listing of the region's top privately held companies.

ABOUT F&W

• Headquarters: Sycamore Township. • Annual sales: About $275 million. • Divisions: Books, magazines, book clubs and conference/education. • Titles: About 3,000 books and about 57 magazines. • Employees: 1,000, including about 275 in Cincinnati. • Owners: Providence Equity Partners. Timeline: • 1913: Company founded as a special-interest publisher of automotive titles. • 1921: Writer's Digest magazine launched. • 1999: Richard and Lois Rosenthal sell F&W to Citicorp Venture Capital Group. • 2000: F&W buys D&C Group Ltd. in England. • 2002: Providence Equity Partners and senior managers acquire F&W. Revenue: • 1998: $61 million • 1999: $70 million • 2000: $87 million • 2001: $108 million • 2002: $203 million • 2003: $275 million

Helped by three acquisitions in 2002, the company jumped to No. 18 from No. 42. F&W's acquisitions all were hobby-based with high reader loyalty.

Next year should hold more changes. F&W plans a celebration around the 100th anniversary of its Horticulture magazine. The company also will redesign the venerable Writer's Digest and will make forays into providing content for television shows in limited categories.

That kind of diversification is how F&W makes all its acquisitions work. For example, since it bought Memory Makers magazine in 2002, it has almost doubled employment and added book and conference programs.

And Writer's Digest now includes more than 20 special-interest publications, plus a writing school and a critique service.

"When you acquire others, what you're doing is acquiring a knowledge base that you can grow organically," said Kent, a management and business-development specialist who became president when the founding Rosenthal family sold F&W in 1999. "The more we do this, the more compelling the story is."

The deals haven't diluted profitability. In fact, the company says it has increased profitability almost fourfold since 1999.

Kent said the Internet has become a bigger element of F&W's strategy, but only as a complement to its core business.

"We want to be able to provide readers with that as an option, but not as a standalone business unit," he said.

E-mail cpeale@enquirer.com