“Strategic changes” from the Octopus Publishing Group in London include the closing of Octopus USA, launched within Hachette Book Group USA at the beginning of last year. As a result, USA associate publisher Jonathan Stolper and director of publicity and marketing Andrea Glickson’s jobs are being eliminated, though the company says they “launched and managed the Octopus USA business very successfully, and Octopus’ profile in North America has grown significantly thanks to their hard work.” HBG’s client services group will continue to handle sales and distribution of Octopus titles here.
In the broader reorganization of the unit, they will focus on “the areas where it has a particularly strong presence such as food and wine and moving away from areas where there is no opportunity for long term growth.” The company cited “the continued downturn in the markets for certain types of illustrated and reference books.” In the UK they are in the required 30-day consultation period with employees over staff reductions. The Bookseller reports that anywhere from 20 to 40 jobs could be eliminated as part of the reorganization, from total staff of 110 people.