Ten Things I Want to Know About Random House's Reorganization

Andrew Wheeler has the clearest summary of what some call Black Wednesday (I prefer Bloodbath Wednesday myself), which now encompasses more layoffs at Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, Simon & Schuster cutting 35 jobs (including editor Denise Roy) and Thomas Nelson's layoffs. But back to Random House, which is still the biggest story in the making, and what I want to know:

• What will Steve Rubin's new role be with the company, if he even stays put?
• Why did Spiegel and Grau get separated from the rest of the Doubleday crew? Will they work better under Gina Centrello than Sonny Mehta?
• Will Nan Talese get to keep her own imprint under Sonny's watch or is this a slow boat to retirement of some kind?
• Why does the prospect of Phyllis Grann interacting with Sonny give me flashbacks to the 2003 Ann Godoff mess? Or to 2002?
• Is there any reason whatsoever for the Crown side to keep doing fiction?
• Will imprints disappear completely and if so, which ones? (Broadway seems the likeliest candidate, and most of Bantam Dell's are up for scrutiny too, I reckon.)
• How many growing pains will there be incorporating Doubleday's commercial approach with Knopf's ethos? Yes, Knopf isn't nearly as highbrow as its reputation, but they wouldn't have published Dan Brown or John Grisham.
• Are Ballantine and Bantam Dell honestly expected to keep separate editorial mandates when what they publish are so close in nature?
• How exactly will marketing and sales be streamlined across the board?
• Last but not least, will all this news finally make Markus Dohle speak to the press? (I already know the answer to that: nope.)

Comments

[tess gerritsen]

I'm surprised that no one's commenting here on these alarming changes. Maybe we're all hiding under our desks and waiting until it's safe to come out again.

[Kevin Wignall]

Tess, I suppose the real answer to that is that most people don't know what's happening. I don't believe all this activity is in response to worsening market conditions. I do think publishing has become bloated and careless over the last 10-15 years and it strikes me that the execs are seeing the current economic crisis as an opportunity to clean up their acts. (it also prepares them for any downturn that does occur in publishing)

Of course, that's not necessarily good for authors. I already know of people who've had books cancelled. My new book is on submission with my regular publisher (S&S) but it's not contracted so who knows, particularly given today's news.

One final thing. Although, again, it won't be good for authors, I've never understood why different parts of large publishing organizations bid against each other for books, and I expect that to change in the coming months and years.

[David J. Montgomery]

I think you're exactly right, Kevin. Regardless of what happens with the consumer side of things -- and hopefully we'll see book buying pick up, or at least not deteriorate too much -- the publishing companies are taking crucial steps to improve the way they do business. These steps have been needed for a long time, so it's encouraging to see them finally being made.

It's like with the American auto industry -- only when the wolves are breaking down the door has the industry allowed itself to be bludgeoned (fighting tooth and nail every inch of the way) into making crucial changes and reforms they should have made a decade ago.

Hopefully publishing, unlike the auto industry, has acted before it's too late.

[tess gerritsen]

It's not just the publishing end that's looking sickly. I've heard that Barnes and Noble is cutting back its orders for next year -- anticipating poor book sales in 2009 because of the economy. So no matter what the publishers do, or how they streamline their businesses, we're all still stuck in a lousy economy with consumers who've slammed shut their wallets.

[Katharine Weber]

Shaye Areheart Books is part of Crown, so the answer is yes, absolutely, there is still a place for fiction at the Crown group.

[Katharine Weber]

Shaye Areheart Books is part of Crown, so the answer is yes, absolutely, there is still a place for fiction at the Crown group.

[John Cecil]

In contrast to all the bleak publishing news, one has to wonder how start up publishers like Algonquin have managed to do so well at the exact time when the others are failing?

I think it's a combination of bad taste, targeting one hit wonders for people who only buy one book every five years, extreme social devision to the point of being oppressive, superficial, trend chasing, dishonest, redundant, non original, etc.

In short no one wants to read a book, review, or support a company that dehumanizes them for their gender, race, religion while maintaining a double standard for their own gender or race, or having no tolerance.

I enjoy a wide range of authors, especially fiction, but those kind of novels are few and far between.

It probably is like the auto industry, or worse, where that market is now gone elsewhere. I used to buy a lot of books, but in the past several years I can't find anything I like enough to finish reading. It's that bad.