The Publisher: Tom Llewellyn

Age: 46
Neighborhood: North End, Tacoma
Pets: Viggon the dog; Molly, Lucky and Reason the cats
Favorite Color: The waxy brown of an old pair of boots

Tom Llewellyn knew he wanted to be a writer in the fourth grade. He thinks a good story is the most valuable thing in the world.

The Tacoma-based writer’s publishing projects read like a roadmap for the new land of the literary. He’s gone the traditional route, publishing a well-reviewed “middle reader” novel, The Tilting House, with a Random House imprint. He self-published a novel-as-blog, Letter Off Dead. And through his guerrilla art project, Beautiful Angle, he has made meticulously hand-printed posters featuring art and writing from other Tacoma-based artists.

“You can’t wait for an audience,” he says. “You have to go out and claim one.”

Llewellyn’s latest joint venture, Rotator, is a quarterly magazine that blurs the lines between art and commerce. The publication, infused with an “anti-suburban” slant, focuses on art, music, design and city life along the I-5 corridor.

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Photography by Kyle Johnson at Melrose Market Studios.