New York-based employees at Oxford University Press USA have unionized, joining the NewsGuild-CWA. In a statement, they state their priorities as: Job security in a diverse workplace Dignified salary and benefits that keep pace with cost of living Defined job responsibilities, reporting structures, workload & company policies Improved career development and evaluative processes Comprehensive action to resolve issues of sexual harassment & the longstanding, unsustainable rate of attrition The new union told PL, “There are roughly 165 in-unit, and we have the support of 75% of those employees.” On Twitter, it said, “If senior management does not voluntarily recognize us, […]
Archives for June 2021
McGraw Hill to be Sold to Platinum Equity
Private equity firm Apollo Global’s long journey with McGraw Hill is coming to an end, with an agreement to sell the publisher to yet another private equity company, Platinum Equity. The deal is valued at $4.5 billion including debt. With debt at the end of 2020 of about $2.23 billion, it means the new owner is actually spending (or further borrowing) about $2.25 billion, and taking on about that much in existing debt. McGraw Hill’s planned merger with Cengage was abandoned in May 2020 after facing objections from regulators in the US and UK. Prior to that, the company had […]
Wall Street Journal Expands Approval Process Over Employee’s Books, Other Outside Projects
Dow Jones announced on Friday that it is revising its policy on books written by Wall Street Journal employees, possibly expanding the newspaper’s control over those projects. Under current restrictions, journalists are required to inform senior editors about book projects at early stages. But the director of the WSJ union told The Hill that the changes would require personnel to seek permission even earlier, before “sending a proposal or engaging in talks with a book agent or publisher or production company.” Additionally, journalists “will be required to execute an appropriate licensing agreement” to use their own reporting in their books, […]
People
Writers House senior agent Geri Thoma has announced her retirement, effective June 8, after 42 happy years in publishing. She joined Writers House in 2013. Writers House chair Amy Berkower wrote, “Along with her prestigious list, Geri brought with her years of insight and publishing savvy. We will miss her wit, wisdom, and generosity of spirit, and we will treasure the legacy she has left us.” Separately, former svp, corporate director of business affairs at Penguin Random House John Schline has joined Writers House as senior agent. Recently, he has been an independent consultant for tech start-ups, small publishers, and […]
Awards
Jason Reynolds won the UK’s Carnegie medal for Look Both Ways. Sydney Smith won the Kate Greenaway medal for illustration for Small in the City. Charles Baxter won the 2021 PEN/Malamud Award for Excellence in the Short Story.
Funding: BookClub Raises Again
After announcing $6 million in seed funding last September, BookClub has now raised a $20 million Series A financing. The round was led by Signal Peak Ventures — which was joined by GSV Ventures, Maveron, Backstage Capital and Pelion Venture Partner, along with MasterClass co-founded Aaron Rasmussen and Goodreads co-founder Otis Chandler. The service has been in private beta, but expects to open to the public in July. TechCrunch says they are still “experimenting with two services to bring author-led discussions to readers.” One is a traditional interview-style format with the author; another has viewers “click through videos as they […]