Debt unpaid for Oxford American

It has been a long, hard road for "The Oxford American."

Like the proverbial engine that could, the literary publication continues to trudge uphill, regardless of whatever financial roadblocks it encounters.

This April, financial issues almost caused the magazine to come to a standstill after staff members discovered office manager Renae Maxwell allegedly embezzled money from the business account.

"The woman that did it would use the accounting system to write checks to our creditors in 2007," said publisher Warwick Sabin, who stepped into the leadership role in April. "She would put those in her desk and would never mail them, and then would write checks to herself off the books. The result was that our bank account was empty, but we also owed money to creditors because we thought the bills had been paid."

Maxwell's total came to more than $100,000, not counting the unpaid bills and taxes, Sabin said. Maxwell awaits prosecution on charges of theft and forgery.

The University of Central Arkansas came to the magazine's rescue, lending $140,000 on a six-month basis. That debt remains unpaid, although both university officials and the magazine's staff remain optimistic.

"They are giving the magazine a little more leeway and a little more time to repay the loan," said Sabin, who also serves as the university's associate vice president for communications. "Obviously we could shut down and UCA would never receive any repayment, or they could let us get back on solid ground and give us a little more time. The progress that we've demonstrated gave them more confidence in our ability to repay the loan."

The magazine first has to repay the debts Maxwell failed to cover, Sabin said.

"We're continuing to improve business aspects of the magazine, which have required a great deal of attention," Sabin said. "I've been using our cash flow to get our books straightened out and repay our debts, as well as keep up with our current obligations. We've basically been able to cover two years' expenses with one year of cash flow."

UCA interim President Tom Courtway said he plans to discuss the issue with the Board of Trustees, although he believes the direction the magazine is moving in will eventually lead to full repayment.

"As long as 'The Oxford American,' under Mr. Sabin's lead and work, is on a basis where it doesn't appear that the university is going to have to put in additional funds for the magazine, then it seems to me ... that the only prudent course is to allow time and to continue that hard work with the prospect that the university will be repaid over time," he said.

"The only prudent course, as long as the magazine seems to be sustaining itself where it is now ... is to let it continue that way and then we'll recoup our funds over time. It seems like there's no chance otherwise," Courtway said.

A literary tradition

The critically acclaimed magazine began in 1992, shortly after Marc Smirnoff found himself in Oxford, Miss., because of car troubles. His vision for a magazine promoting Southern literature and culture slowly evolved, and writers from John Updike to William Steig freely submitted their own works.

After many years of turbulence, circling monetary issues and several relocations, the magazine landed at the UCA campus in 2004, when the university acquired the publication for $500,000 on a three-year contract.

This year, when UCA stepped in again to revive the publication, some stipulations were made in order to ensure history didn't repeat itself.

One, made by former President Lu Hardin, required Sabin to replace founder Marc Smirnoff as publisher.

There are no hard feelings. Smirnoff remains in charge of the editorial decisions of the magazine, and said UCA's involvement placed "The Oxford American" on a straighter path.

"Our business team has been totally revamped and reinvigorated," Smirnoff said.

The new publisher said he offers both personal and business expertise, as he has continuously held a subscription since his sophomore year at the University of Arkansas.

"That experience of being a subscriber has very strongly influenced how I've managed the magazine," Sabin said.

He noted that the failures of the publication have consistently been with the handing of business affairs, not the editorial content.

"I wanted to try to bring discipline and smart management practices to the magazine because that's what I thought it was lacking," he said, adding that a rigid deadline has been enforced. "Three issues came out ahead of schedule."

As evidence of this success, both Smirnoff and Sabin pointed to the 10th annual music issue, which comes to newsstands Nov. 28.

The issue traditionally came out in August, but Sabin saw the move as a good marketing decision. "It's timed to come out the day after Thanksgiving, the beginning of the holiday shopping season. ... It made more sense to come out in the holiday season when people can give it out as a gift," he said, adding that the new feature is a double CD collection of southern music.

"The double CD is sponsored by CMT, and one other exciting thing is that the spoken word introduction for our CD was recorded by Morgan Freeman," he said.

Smirnoff said subscribers can look forward to lots of extras in the issue. "Our music issue is by far our most popular issue every year we print more copies, sell more copies, get more coverage, etc. and even people who expect a lot from our CDs are going to be overwhelmed by this year's two anniversary CDs," he said.

The CDs will include more than 50 songs from various artists, including Isaac Hayes, Jerry Lee Lewis and Elvis.

He said celebrities also plan to assist the magazine, including North Little Rock natives Mary Steenburgen and Joey Lauren Adams, who want to host an event in Los Angeles. Other events remain in the works.

"We're going to do a big event in Clarksdale, Miss., on Jan. 23 at Morgan Freeman's blues club, Ground Zero. It's a community building event," Sabin said.

Along with fundraising changes, Sabin and Smirnoff have worked together to involve more students at UCA, from several different disciplines. In the past, primarily the writing and English departments were involved.

"We're still working with the business college to create business work study and internships so they can learn business of publishing," Sabin said, adding that the magazine also plans to involve digital film students to get "more video on our Web site."

"We want to get as many academic opportunities as we can," he said.

Smirnoff hopes more interns from UCA and elsewhere remain involved. "Without them, and the interns we get from across the country, we simply couldn't put out the magazine. Considering that our ambitions are national and big, we have a very small staff. So everybody counts. And every intern and UCA student who's involved is crucial to our success," he said.