Houghton Mifflin Harcourt fired 525 employees on the first of October, fol­lowed by more than 150 employees who took early retirement in September. In all, their workforce has dropped by over 20%, from about 3,3000 to 2,600. They have implemented other cost-cutting measures, most related to the increased popularity of ebooks and a new “digital first” approach.

Harper Children’s has announced changes at their Harper imprint. Director of publishing VP ...Read More

Houghton Mifflin Harcourt (HMH) announced it will explore selling its publishing company, HMH Books & Media.

The potential sale would reduce debt and build on the Company’s October 1 restructuring to align its cost structure to its digital-first, connected strategy, and create a pure-play learning technology company. The Company has engaged Centerview Partners to explore the potential sale of HMH Books & Media.

Jack Lynch, president and CEO of HMH, ...Read More

UK small press PS Publishing has launched a new imprint, Absinthe Books, with author/editor Marie O’Regan serving as managing editor. The imprint’s “remit is to publish a wide range of authors and material, predominantly but not exclusively new to PS Publishing.”

The first titles are novellas Mr. Sandman by S.J.I. Holliday, Broken Things: A Tale of Durstan by George Mann, and On the Shoulders of Otava by Laura Mauro, launching ...Read More

Random House Children’s Books has announced a new middle grade and YA imprint, Labyrinth Road, with a focus on contemporary fantasy and realistic literary novels. Liesa Abrams will serve as vice president and editor-in-chief of the imprint, effective November 9, 2020. Abrams was most recently vice-president, editor-at-large at Simon & Schuster. In a statement, she says,

Labyrinth Road is a home for books about epic journeys—both fantastical and emotional—that give ...Read More

Five percent of Hough­ton Mifflin Harcourt’s employees (166 people) agreed to take part in a voluntary early retire­ment incentive program. The offer was open to all US employees age 55 or up with at least five years at the company (about 18% of employ­ees qualified). Most left effective September 4, 2020. The cost of the incentives is around $13.5 million, and should save HMH 17 or 18 million dollars per ...Read More

Penguin Random House US released the results of company’s demographic analysis. CEO Madeline McIntosh says, “I don’t think any of us is likely to be surprised by the data, which show that our company, like our industry, is far too homogeneous. But seeing what we generally know to be true documented this way is hard: the distance we have to travel to become a truly diverse company feels all the ...Read More

Mark Teppo announced that his publishing projects will no longer operate under the Resurrection House name, with his Firebird Creative projects now appearing under the Underland Press and Underland Arcana banners. Speaking of: Underland Press has launched a new quarterly publication, Un­derground Arcana, with work inspired by the Minor Arcana of the tarot, launching in Fall 2020. The press has published two anthologies inspired by the major arcana (XII ...Read More

A Publishers Weekly survey in June revealed that most publishers in New York anticipated bringing employees back after Labor Day, but that’s not happening.

Macmillan’s offices won’t open until January 11, 2021 at the earliest, but some employees will be al­lowed access to their Manhattan office on a trial basis upon request.

Simon & Schuster’s CEO Bob Bakish wrote in a memo that “at this point, we are assuming the ...Read More

In June, John Sargent, CEO of Macmillan, sent a memo to staff outlining plans to change their leadership structure. “It is clear that we have to change who occupies the seats at the table when the important decisions are being made.” They plan to create a new Trade Manage­ment committee with 13 members “who will meet regularly to decide on the key issues for Macmillan” and “focus on running the ...Read More

Dawn Frederick, owner of St. Paul MN-based agency Red Sofa Literary, is at the center of an ongoing controversy. On May 28, 2020, during protests following the death of George Floyd in the Twin Cities, Frederick tweeted, “The gas station at the END OF MY BLOCK is officially getting looted. Calling the police right now to let them know as someone will need to board up this place.” (Her Twitter ...Read More