The Writers’ Trust of Canada and The Writers’ Union of Canada (TWUC) created a Canadian Writers’ Emergency Relief Fund to support professional authors. The fund will distribute grants of $1,500 to “writers that have seen contracted or projected income evaporate due to the current public health crisis.” RBC joined the two organizations in funding the initial pool of $150,000. Rakuten Kobo has formed a joint venture with Australia’s largest online bookseller, Booktopia, to sell ebooks, digitial audiobooks, and ereading devices. In the UK, distributor Bertram’s has joined Gardner’s in temporarily suspending all operations, and the company is furloughing its staff, […]
Crisis reference
Indigo Books Lays Off 5,200 Employees
Now that Indigo Books physical stores are closed until further notice, the company temporarily laid off 5,200 retail employees as of last Friday. (According to their website, they employed a total of about 7,000 people.) All employees had been paid during the initial hiatus, from March 17 until March 28. Spokesperson Kate Gregory said the company had “made the difficult decision” to layoff employees temporarily. The company expects “to re-embrace as many as possible when this period of store closure is over.” Longer closures will put stress on bookstores large and small. Slate talks to some independent booksellers, for whom […]
Free Resources: More Updates
We continue to update our sharable, free web pages on resources and measures the publishing community is taking (and publishers continue to tell us they are fielding lots of permissions requests from educators and others). We’ve also alphabetized a number of these listings for easier reference. Continue to let us know as you add initiatives and information, and share these simple shortlinks with your community. (Also, publishers, since all of your new educational permissions policies vary slightly, try to post the complete guidelines somewhere on your website so that we can link to them, thanks.) How to help booksellers — […]
Closings, Suspensions, Appeals
The UK’s major independent book wholesaler Gardner’s has temporarily suspended new orders for physical product, as they move to protect their employees: ” The safety and well-being of our amazing workforce is the primary reason for making this decision.” Existing orders will still be processed and they are “working hard to clear all outstanding orders over the coming days.” The company adds, “We will be looking to see what key services we can turn back on as soon as possible, and will be updating all our customers and suppliers on regular basis as to the progress we are making.” Please, […]
People, Etc.
Laura Mazer has joined Wendy Sherman Associates as a literary agent representing adult nonfiction. Previously, she was executive editor at Seal Press. Bookselling Powell’s Books announced that they have rehired some of the employees they fired earlier in the month due to strong online orders. It was widely misreported that the store has rehired over 100 people — whereas what ceo and owner Emily Powell wrote on Facebook was that “over 100” people are working at the store again. The union representing many Powell’s workers clarified to the Oregonian “that the bookstore has only recalled 49 union workers, and said […]
HMH Reduces Salaries, Withdraws Guidance and More
Following yesterday’s news that HMH Books & Media had temporarily closed its Indiana distribution center as the state is on lockdown, parent HMH issued a business update, announcing a series of cutbacks. The “majority of employees” have been reduced to a four-day work week, at pro-rated pay, while directors and top executives have taken a 25 percent cut in base cash compensation. The ceo has taken a 50 percent reduction in base salary, and “senior leadership” has also taken unspecified salary reductions. They say that all of their warehouses and distribution centers, with additional facilities in Illinois, Missouri, and Florida, […]