What Is Happening In Publishing?

Hello everyone, it’s your Publishing Auntie Jenn, present to beryllium adjacent to you arsenic we each wonder: What is going connected with publishing close now? The wide reply is “a lot.” Let’s get the housekeeping retired of the way: I bash not person immoderate insider information, conscionable astir 20 years of acquisition moving successful publishing successful varying capacities and a willingness to play “connect the dots” with the accusation we bash person (special shout-out to Publishers Weekly, whose reporting is invaluable to this piece). Full disclosure: I americium a co-editor of speculative fabrication anthologies that are published by Vintage, truthful I person a idiosyncratic involvement successful PRH specifically. Onwards!

Two large quality stories dropped the week of January 30th: Madeline McIntosh, the CEO of Penguin Random House, is leaving the company, and HarperCollins, who person (finally!) started negotiations with strikers, announced that they would beryllium cutting 5% of their North American employees by June 30th, starting immediately. Given that layoffs and unions are large quality close present crossed occupation sectors, we’ll commencement there.

HarperCollins has had a batch of property successful precocious 2022 into 2023, mostly surrounding the national members striking for higher wage for entry-level employees (an highly tenable request fixed that those employees person to reside successful the existent astir costly city successful the world), arsenic good arsenic much-needed diversification of the workforce and national security. The onslaught began successful November, and folks connected each sides are anxious to spot a resolution. News of mediation talks came connected January 25th, conscionable 5 days earlier the layoff memo. The memo from CEO Brian Murray to employees attributes the layoffs to the normalization (my connection choice) of publication sales, which spiked dramatically during the commencement and tallness of the COVID-19 pandemic and are present returning to pre-pandemic levels. HarperCollins is not an outlier successful struggling to respond to that income diminution — everyone successful publishing, including Riot New Media, was taken by astonishment by the income surge, and nary of america correctly predicted however agelong it would last, oregon however acold it would recede present that we are successful the pandemic doldrums, dealing with ostentation and concerns astir recession, and seeing the interaction of COVID-19-boom hiring connected a swathe of businesses. HarperCollins specifically blamed Amazon for falling gross successful the Fall of 2022, which conscionable goes to amusement that everyone who has been yelling astir however beholden the Big 5 publishers person go connected the Big A is correct. (Monopolies are bad, y’all.) The announcement stands successful stark opposition to the grounds profits they logged successful the past fewer years.

In a related “baby steps” move, Hachette Book Group just announced that they’re raising their starting-level wage to $47,500. This puts them supra everyone but Simon & Schuster, whose basal complaint is $50,000, which is the fig that the striking HarperCollins employees are asking for. (As a constituent of comparison, if you were making $50,000 successful Chicago, the equivalent cost-of-living salary successful NYC is $100,615. Having personally lived successful NYC connected astir $50,000 a year, I tin guarantee you that it was conscionable hardly capable to screen my fractional of rent successful a two-bedroom flat successful Queens, devour retired occasionally, and marque interest-only payments connected my pupil loans.)

To repeat, HarperCollins is not the lone 1 experiencing this economical crunch, but is presently nether the microscope, and astatine the clip of penning is the lone Big 5 steadfast to denote layoffs.* HarperCollins is besides the lone 1 of the Big 5 Publishers with a union, though determination are autarkic presses similar The New Press which are unionized, and others person attempted it (most precocious Skyhorse successful 2017). The wide representation is of a ample steadfast floundering some economically and strategically. And with COVID-19 spotlighting inequities successful the United States, from poverty-level wages to entree to aesculapian attraction to constabulary brutality and beyond, it’s hard not to presumption these developments arsenic the extremity of the publishing reckoning iceberg.

PRH’s struggles are besides of strategical variety, revealed by high-profile resignations that started with planetary CEO Markus Dohle, followed by Random House Publishing Group steadfast and president Gina Centrello, and astir precocious RPH US CEO Madeline McIntosh. No substance however overmuch of a publication idiosyncratic you are, these names whitethorn beryllium profoundly unfamiliar to you, and that’s not conscionable good but expected — unless you enactment for them, there’s nary crushed you should cognize who they are. What’s important to cognize is that these are long-time PRH higher-ups with decades-long careers successful publishing. Dohle’s departure is speculated to beryllium related to the failed merger of PRH and Simon & Schuster, fixed that the announcement followed adjacent down the blocking of the merger successful national court. Centrello and McIntosh’s departures were some explained arsenic idiosyncratic decisions that would assistance marque abstraction for caller leaders, but PW wonders (as bash I) however overmuch of this is failed-merger fallout, particularly fixed comments made by Dohle during proceedings testimony.

The imaginable merger of PRH and S&S itself was a taxable of blistery speculation and divided opinions successful publishing. While astir folks I talked to were of the aforesaid sentiment arsenic myself and those who testified successful the tribunal hearings that it would beryllium precise atrocious for authors specifically and the publishing ecosystem overall, others were concerned that determination mightiness not beryllium different purchaser for S&S, starring to the sell-off and imaginable shut-down of its imprints. And with long-time leaders stepping distant from PRH, further uncertainty is added to the mix. What volition it mean for the unit and imprints of PRH? Will it let for caller position (and possibly a much divers enactment roster)? Will it redirect vigor distant from initiatives introduced during the past fewer years that were aimed towards making the manufacture much equitable? Will it bash some of those things positive immoderate different worldly that I can’t deliberation of close now?

We can’t cognize until we know, of course. But the interaction of the uncertainty connected the publishing manufacture is beauteous wide close now: authors are profoundly acrophobic astir shrinking advances and brick-and-mortar stocking; employees are faced with continuing overwork and underpay portion waiting for the imaginable different footwear to drop; pundits (it me?) are punditing; and everyone is waiting to spot what the speechmaking marketplace volition bash next. 

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*Pushkin Industries, Malcolm Gladwell’s audio company, has besides laid off employees. They are portion of the publishing sector, but not a large publishing house. Layoffs person besides made quality successful the media and tech sectors. Matthew Yglesias noted successful a deep-dive good worthy your clip that the numbers are really rather constricted compared to different sectors that get little attention, and could beryllium a motion of improvements successful the system overall.