Hachette UK and Bonnier Books UK are furloughing approximately 10 percent of their staff, the Bookseller reports, and Penguin Random House UK will do the same with an unspecified percentage of their workforce, but furlough is a gentler process in the UK than it is in the US. For Britains, furlough means a temporary layoff under which the government covers 80 percent of wages through the end of May. All three publishers have said they have elected to “top up” the salaries of furloughed employees, so that they will receive full wages. In the US, a furlough means a temporary […]
Crisis reference
Status: More on Macmillan’s Layoffs, Barnes & Noble Redesigns Stores, WH Smith Will Sell More Shares
Further to the 5 reported layoffs at St. Martin’s (primarily from Thomas Dunne Books), last week’s companywide job cuts at Macmillan also saw the elimination of 5 positions at Farrar, Straus, including executive editor Colin Dickerman, svp, director of special projects Jeff Seroy, and vp, sales and marketing, Picador Darin Keesler. Another 3 positions were eliminated at Holt, including executive editor Paul Golob and senior editor Jonathan Cox. Subsequent disclosures also included Diana Gill, Melissa Frain, Diana Pho and Alison Bunis at Tor. Given that a spokesperson said last week, “We are doing layoffs across the organization,” that suggests that […]
People, Etc.
Kyle Olund has joined Thomas Nelson as senior acquisitions editor for W Publishing. Most recently, he was executive editor for Worthy Books and FaithWords. UK wholesale Gardner’s has reopened their business that ships individual books to consumers on behalf of retailers, on a limited basis. Customers are limited to just one book per order, and they can only ship inventory that is already in stock. Reference Pages We have continued to update our sharable, free web pages on resources and measures the publishing community is taking. Continue to let us know as you add initiatives and information, and share these simple […]
Macmillan Starts Layoffs, Reduces Some Employees’ Pay; Barnes & Noble College Furloughs “Majority” of Staff
On Thursday afternoon, Macmillan Publishers announced that it would “implement a temporary reduction in pay for employees, as part of a larger Holtzbrinck cost-saving initiative.” They company is also “implementing a job reduction action and hiring freeze.” A spokesperson tells us, “We are doing layoffs across the organization,” but declined to specify any numbers. Among those layoffs, within St. Martin’s, is Thomas Dunne, “a legendary figure in book publishing” who has worked for the company since 1971, and began his imprint in 1986. St. Martin’s publisher Jennifer Enderlin noted that there will be “no more Thomas Dunne Books titles to […]
Assistance: Patterson Helps Indie Stores In New Campaign, PEN Increases Grants to Writers
James Patterson is making a personal donation of $500,000 to help save independent bookstores across the country, as part of a new fund to be administered by BINC (Book Industry Charitable Foundation) that is raising money to support stores rather than individual booksellers in need. Patterson is joining with Reese Witherspoon, as well as the ABA, in a new awareness and fundraising campaign, #SaveIndieBookstores, running through April 30. BINC will distribute the pool of funds raised to eligible independent bookstores “by May 15.” Apparently those grants will be available to ABA member stores only. The site indicates, “Funds received are […]
People, Etc.
Siobhan McBride has joined Carnicelli Literary Management as associate agent representing literary and commercial fiction and narrative nonfiction. She was most recently at Sobel Weber Associates. Tammy Faxel, 55, publisher at Dreamscape Media, died on March 30. She joined Dreamscape in 2014, and helped grow the company’s audiobook publishing program to over 900 titles annually. Prior to that, she led Waterfall Press for Brilliance Publishing, after working at Tyndale House and Oasis Audio. Picks Reese Witherspoon chose Untamed by Glennon Doyle as her April book club pick. Pennie’s Pick at Costco for April is a new hardcover release, The Yellow Bird […]