While it’s a common refrain that publishing is not a lucrative industry for workers, it is especially true for bookstore workers. Booksellers can make or break a book’s success, are knowledgeable about hundreds of individual products and the industry as a whole, and are a vital part of the publishing ecosystem. But they are often paid minimum wage or not much above, and even experienced booksellers often earn less than what entry-level colleagues in publishing offices make. There seems to be a disconnect between the career and the compensation—booksellers are paid like an hourly gig in what is, for many, […]
Compensation
Macmillan Raises Starting Salary
On Wednesday, Macmillan announced that they will increase their entry-level base salary to $47,500, effective April 1. That brings them in line with Hachette Book Group, which announced a similar increase a week ago. Macmillan has been paying a starting salary of $42,000. Macmillan noted, “Additional adjustments will be made to current salary bands to reflect this change.”
One Major New York Publisher Pays Starting Salary of $50K
In yesterday’s open letter addressing negotiations with the union, Harper Collins ceo Brian Murray wrote that, “Based on publicly available information, HarperCollins’s proposed compensation increases would provide for a higher starting salary than any other major New York publisher.” The dollar amount of Harper’s proposal was not disclosed; the union has said it is asking to increase the base salary from $45,000 to $50,000. To expand on the publicly available information, Simon & Schuster’s starting salary for New York City employees is $50,000, which the company confirmed to PL. (Our understanding is that S&S pays based on a 40-hour workweek. […]
Book Critics Build Careers, But Can’t Make a Living
For this first in a series looking at compensation in different corners of the book business, we found that pay for book critics varies widely by publication and type of piece—but none of it is enough to live on. The financial struggle of being a book reviewer has real influence on the way books are seen, and the publishing industry as a whole. Reviews—whether they’re positive or negative, and whether they exist at all—can influence sales, and subsequently what books are published and how they’re marketed. Many sources we spoke to for this article—more than a dozen emerging and established […]
“Passion Over Money”: On Careers With a Publishing Master’s Degree
Last year, the WSJ reported that graduates from top universities don’t earn enough to pay off loans for their master’s degrees in a number of disciplines. According to the article, “At New York University, graduates with a master’s degree in publishing borrowed a median $116,000 and had an annual median income of $42,000 two years after the program, the data on recent borrowers show.” Still, many alumni tell PL that they wouldn’t have a job in publishing at all without their master’s program. Graduates report that, even after internships and interviews, getting a master’s—with the networking opportunities and internal job […]
Salary Updates: Penguin Random House, Simon & Schuster
Further to the news that Penguin Random House will raise its entry level salaries to $45,000 at the beginning of 2021, they wrote in an internal memo that “second and third level non-exempt roles” will also receive raises, with “minimum salaries of $50,000 and $55,000 respectively.” The minimum salary for exempt-level positions in New York City will increase from $58,500 (the legal minimum in New York City) to $60,000. PRH locations outside of NYC with entry-level salaries that differ from the New York offices will “hear individually how these changes may impact them.” Additionally, Simon & Schuster employees told PL […]