Why is the industry imploding today?

[penmage]

Why is the publishing industry imploding today? WTF?

Editor J called us all in for a mandatory closed-door meeting in his office on ten minutes notice, and told us that Rick Richter, the president of S&S Children's Books, is resigning, effective Friday. He wanted to tell us before we heard in the 11am press release.

But that's not all. Our publisher was also fired. So were 34 other people, all in adult. The PW alert calls it "what has to be one of the grimmest days in publishing in recent years."

We're supposed to have a new president by year end--which is to say, within three weeks. And who knows what will happen when that person starts?

Another PW alert today announced a major restructuring at Random House. Yesterday, Becky Saletin, a publisher at Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, stepped down. And last week, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt announced a new policy in which they are no longer acquiring manuscripts, which is the most fucked-up thing I can imagine a publishing house doing.

I can't be the only publishing person freaking out here, right guys? WTF? Seriously?

Comments

[esc-key.livejournal.com]

I'm starting to feel like it was stupid of me to get out of bed this morning.

[penmage.livejournal.com]

Not to mention the Tree Lighting of Doom tonight, making today officially The Worst Day to Be Around Rockefeller Center.

Today is fired.

[shhbabe.livejournal.com]

Hey, nano is only just over. You can say it!

Today is banned.

[penmage.livejournal.com]

I love you.

[tarlia.livejournal.com]

Damn. And no details given. Scary.

[merriehaskell.livejournal.com]

If you don't know, then I don't know... Yikes.

[yendi]

Colleen Lindsay does caution folks not to panic, although it's hard not to feel a little concerned here.

(Higher Ed is also taking a hit, although we do so slower and are much likely to go after folks who aren't making as much money instead of folks near the top or upper middle.)

[penmage.livejournal.com]

It's hard not to panic when we just lost our president and our publisher, RH is going crazy, and HMH is going batshit insane.

I honestly don't think that my job is in trouble--editorial junior staff don't make enough to be worth cutting out. But still. But still.

[mamadeb.livejournal.com]

Are book sales down or predicted to go down rapidly?

This wouldn't surprise me right now.

[penmage.livejournal.com]

Everything's down.

[medievaloracle.livejournal.com]

Holy crap. We're having issues here on a much smaller scale. All of the state library services people are retiring, and it looks like they aren't planning on replacing them. How is the state library supposed to support us if there's not anybody actually working there anymore?

[fshk.livejournal.com]

Massive layoffs at HMH today, too, and it's rumored the parent company is going to sell the whole kit and kaboodle. This is problematic from where I sit as my current project is for HMH, but so far no one we're working for is affected.

Educational publishing is in somewhat better shape than trade, but it's a scary day for the industry. The HMH mess will probably reverberate. They're our biggest client, so it's worrisome.

[penmage.livejournal.com]

Layoffs at HMH? Was there a PW alert about that that I missed? HMH is just a flaming mess these days, isn't it? A friend of mine worked at Harcourt when HM was buying them, and she said it was awful--they were still figuring out who and what they were keeping, so instead of one massive layoff, they did it in dribs and drabs. SO stressful.

Layoffs and Becky Saletin leaving, and no freaking acquisitons. Poor HMH. What a mess.

[fshk.livejournal.com]

I have an inside track to the HMH mess, I don't know how widely publicized the "reorganization" was. And it might be limited to the textbook division.

[grammargirl.livejournal.com]

GAH, I don't know! We're like the only publishing house that's doing well right now, which just makes me want to knock on wood constantly. Also, I never thought I'd say this, but I really wish Midnight Sun hadn't been postponed indefinitely.

[penmage.livejournal.com]

Are you guys worried about a year without a Twilight book? These massive blockbuster titles are both a blessing and a curse sometimes, it feels like.

[grammargirl.livejournal.com]

I don't know that worried is the right word... but SMeyer is, absolutely, a huge part of the successful year we've had. I was also just talking to some people at lunch about how we don't really have a huge, cornerstone book for the next couple seasons. We've got Jon Stewart and Tina Fey, but not till 2010, and who knows what the industry will be doing by then. So... yeah, it would be nice to know that we could rely on a new SMeyer book that would be guaranteed to make a ginormous amount of money, but I also don't think the lack of one is going to shove us into bankruptcy or anything.

On an unrelated note, I am deeply amused by the fact that Firefox's spell check recognizes "ginormous" as a word.

[habiliments.livejournal.com]

Not that it matters, but I'm freaked out, and I'm not even a publishing person. Not anymore, anyway (or at least only in a very different sense!). But I had hoped to become one again in a year or so. Yikes. SO MUCH YIKES.

[ellenmillion.livejournal.com]

I'm not sure I qualify as a publishing person, but this is awfully alarming...

[g33kgrrl]

Wow. I was kind of hoping it was more the "doing-of-coke off of a toaster" firings and not "layoffs because the economy sucks" firings, but - yeah, looks like the latter. :( Glad to hear your position is probably safe, though (using words like probably means no jinxing!).

[poisonivory.livejournal.com]

No, you are definitely not alone. *clings to you*

[mon-enfant.livejournal.com]

Good lord. I have a friend who works at HMH here in Austin and she only barely escaped the downsizing from when they merged. Pearson is practically the only company left here (and it used to be an educational publishing hub). I'm thankful I work on state assessments instead of books, for once.

I hope your job stays safe.

[octoberdreaming.livejournal.com]

:( Bad news can stop any time now. Keep us posted on this.