Oct 30 2008
Doubleday Lays Off 16 People (10% of It’s Workforce)
We’ve been reading about authors leaving Bantam, a subdivision of RandomHouse, and now it appears the belt is tightening further. At Doubleday, another subdivision of Random, 16 people or 10% of the workforce have been let go from every area of publishing: editorial, publicity, advertising, marketing and administrative staffs.
I’ve read other places that agents expect advances to decrease and I’ve heard rumors that orders are declining or are flat from retailers. With the GDP down from July to September and most analysts projecting declines in the 4th quarter as well as the first quarter of 2009, the shrinking economy isn’t likely to lead to positives in the publishing market.
Via New York Times.
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Oct 30, 2008 @ 10:40:42
I’m pretty sure I read another blog post here not too long ago that said that despite the recession, book sales as a whole were up. Maybe publishing is a lagging indicator? When alcohol sales go down, I’ll get seriously terrified.
Oct 30, 2008 @ 10:47:13
@Emmy – that may have been a monthly sales report which is usually two months (or one month) behind. But my sources say that the orders from retailers are flat (i.e., the number of books being ordered by Borders and Barnes and Noble) and those are done 4-6 months in advance of a release date.
Oct 30, 2008 @ 12:14:08
Does Doubleday include the Doubleday Bookclub or are those separate entities? Wasn’t some previous big RH honcho let go b/c of steep losses at the bookclub?