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Technology publisher expands its core base
By DAVE GUSSOW
© St. Petersburg Times, DUNEDIN -- Eight years ago, Scott Kelby and Jim Workman turned their devotion to Macintosh computers into a free magazine they produced in their spare time for their fellow enthusiasts in Central Florida. Today, their publishing venture is a full-time job. It includes two nationally distributed magazines, books and videos. And it produces trade shows, including one starting in Tampa today that will attract 1,500 loyal users of Photoshop graphics software. "We're an education company," Workman said. "Everything we do is about education -- magazines, books, seminars." As other tech magazines struggle for survival, Kelby and Workman have expanded KW Media beyond Mac Design, a magazine devoted to users of Apple's Macintosh computer and originally called Mac Today. The company's growth has been helped by the popularity of digital photography, cheaper PCs and simpler Web design tools that opened the field to more than just geeks. Their second magazine, Photoshop User, focuses on people who use Adobe's popular graphics program. The magazine got a boost when Adobe this year quit publishing its own magazine and turned over its subscription list to KW Media. Kelby, 41, and Workman, 43, run the National Association of Photoshop Professionals (www.photoshopuser.com), a trade group with more than 30,000 members. Kelby has written two books on Photoshop that were bestsellers in Amazon.com's graphics category, with a third due this month. And the partners produce and sell how-to videos. Today, they're bringing their seminar road show home, with the three-day Photoshop World East at the Tampa Convention Center, following a spring show in Los Angeles. More than 1,500 association members are expected to attend, paying up to $499 each to hear experts give tips, advice and how-to information about the software. The shows draw beyond Photoshop's core users, photographers and graphics professionals. "You meet people who want to make drastic changes in their lives," Workman said. Accountants, Realtors and others attend the seminars because they want to learn new skills or how to use the software to improve their businesses. Since 1993, more than 44,000 people have attended KW seminars, including one-day sessions that cost $99. KW and Adobe emphasized that Photoshop User remains independent, free to praise or criticize the software. As proof, Kelby pointed out a recent cover story: "Things We Hate About Photoshop 6.0." "There have been a few minor occasions when we weren't thrilled with something that was published in Photoshop User," said Kevin Connor, Adobe's Digital Imaging Group product manager, in an e-mail interview. "Because they're independent, the information they publish will always be filtered through their own sensibilities, so it doesn't come across as being corporate propaganda. It's really the best of both worlds for us." KW was started by Kelby, Workman and their wives in 1993. Mac Today quickly grew to more than 50,000 readers throughout the Southeast, but the Kelbys and Workmans kept their day jobs, producing the magazine in their off-hours. By 1997, all four had made KW their full-time jobs, with Workman the publisher and Kelby the editor-in-chief. Mac Design is up to 85,000 subscribers; Photoshop User has 45,000 in more than 100 countries, Workman says. Like most Mac enthusiasts, Kelby and Workman have an irreverent attitude toward the dominant Microsoft Windows operating system. But they have toned down the wisecracks since they began publishing a magazine for users of Photoshop, which works on both Macs and Windows computers. "Mac Design retains its sense of humor, and its passion for the platform," laughed Workman. "But we try not to insult people intentionally." Their company has 30 employees and is overflowing its leased space in Dunedin. It bought a 13,900-square-foot building in Oldsmar for its headquarters and should move in around the first of the year. Workman would not disclose the privately held company's revenues. Kelby and Workman have hired Dave Moser, a co-founder of Mac Central magazine, as general manager, with a to-do list that includes adding more international seminars and doubling the association's membership. Tech insiders are often surprised that KW Media is based in Dunedin. Workman says he is often told, "You can't be doing all this cool design in Done-din. Where is Done-din, Fla.?" But the owners say the company has thrived with a mostly local work force and is now attracting job-seekers from the West Coast. "It's not where you are; it's what you're about," said Moser, who moved here from the Philadelphia area. "Here we are in Dunedin, Fla., and we're clearly on the map." -- Dave Gussow can be reached at gussow@sptimes.com or (727) 445-4228.
 © 2006 • All Rights Reserved • St. Petersburg Times
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From the Times Business report
From the AP
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