ViacomCBS and its Simon & Schuster division moved from testing remote work on Friday to a formal, “company-wide, mandatory work-from-home policy until further notice.” S&S ceo Carolyn Reidy asked staff in a memo, “Please continue to treat today and Monday as days to test your capabilities and note issues and obstacles you encounter in fulfilling your day to day responsibilities. We encourage you to communicate these issues to your manager over the next few days.” Given the suddenness of the policy, Reidy notes that “our buildings remain open and you may go there to retrieve any important items you may […]
Archives for March 2020
Authors Guild Issues New “Model Contract”
The Authors Guild has released a new version of their “model trade book contract,” the first update in almost a decade. The guild calls the model “both an advocacy initiative as well as an instructional tool.” They had the Association of Authors’ Representatives (AAR) and other independent agents review the model this time. (The model is only viewable by Authors Guild members.) AAR president Gail Hochman comments in the release, “We were pleased to provide suggestions to this new model that aims to recognize the differences between ideal and realistic terms that publishers may grant…. As the title ‘Model Contract’ […]
People, Etc.
At Hachette Audio, Nita Basu has been promoted to manager of marketing & publicity, and Ghenet Harvey moves up to audio coordinator. Awards The American Academy of Arts and Letters announced their annual literature awards, this year going to 19 writers. Poet Leslie Marmon Silko won the $100,000 Christopher Lightfoot Walker Award for “a significant contribution to American literature.” While most awards go to the writers for general achievement or accomplishment, Valeria Luiselli won a prize for Lost Children Archive, and Isabella Hammad won a first fiction prize for The Parisian. Go here for the complete list of recipients, awarded $350,000 […]
PRH Now Recommends Work from Home, As Do Harper, Macmillan and Others, Plus More Cancellations
Penguin Random House US ceo Madeline McIntosh updated the company’s previous direction to employees: “We’ve made the decision that everyone in our New York, Colorado Springs, and Emeryville offices who can work from home should now transition to do so; plan for today to be your last day in the office, for the time being…. Guidance for Woodland Hills, Westminster, Crawfordsville and Reno is being provided by local leadership.” Additionally, PRH ceo Markus Dohle wrote to staff worldwide: “The geographic nature of the spread of the virus means that we won’t adopt a one-size-fits-all approach for all of our offices […]
Danticat and Keefe Top NBCC Awards
The National Book Critics Circle announced their 2019 award winners Thursday night: Fiction: Everything Inside, by Edwidge Danticat (Knopf) Nonfiction: Say Nothing, by Patrick Radden Keefe (Doubleday) Biography: The Queen, by Josh Levin (Little, Brown) Autobiography: Know My Name, by Chanel Miller (Viking) Poetry: Magical Negro, by Morgan Parker (Tin House Books) Criticism: Wayward Lives, Beautiful Experiments, by Saidiya Hartman (Norton)
HBG and S&S Test Work from Home, Harper Cleans UK Office
Hachette Book Group is “testing work-from-home capabilities today and tomorrow, asking each of our colleagues whose work can be done remotely to work from home on one of these two days.” More broadly, the company said, “Our first concern is the health and well-being of Hachette employees. Starting today, employees with concerns about being in an office environment, about commuting on crowded public transit, or other concerns that lead them to want to work from home, can talk with their managers to make arrangements.” Simon & Schuster employees have been instructed to work from home this Friday as part of […]