Book News:Macmillan JoinsPublishers Downsizing, Freezing Wages
Michael Rogers -- Library Journal, 12/15/2008
- Houghton, Macmillan, Chronicle announce cuts
- Shrinking backlist sales blamed
Following Random House’s recent reorganization, which saw the dismissal of two top veteran execs and many unnamed rank and filers, additional publishing stalwarts also have announced staff reductions, wage freezes, and other belt-tightening tactics. The holiday season started hard for 275 and perhaps more Houghton Mifflin Harcourt employees who received pink slips the first week of December. The layoffs followed an earlier announcement that the publisher temporarily had stopped purchasing new manuscripts, a maneuver that led to the resignation of publisher Rebecca Saletan.
Macmillan also is feeling the pinch and terminated 64 staffers throughout its imprints as well as eliminating raises for employees with annual salaries of more than $50,000. The company additionally merged all its children’s imprints under the single umbrella of Macmillan’s Children’s Publishing Group, Publishers Weekly reported yesterday.
West Coast publishers apparently aren’t faring any better that their eastern counterparts in the current economic fallout: PW previously revealed that San Francisco-based Chronicle Books is laying off under five percent of its staff and reducing its 2010 adult list, which currently runs about 200 volumes annually. Chronicle president Jack Jensen sited a drop-off in backlist sales as the cause of the reductions—no doubt a similar story at other houses.
