Category: publishing

“All Condé Nast publishers and editors have been told they have to cut their staffs by five percent and their budgets by five percent within weeks… It will affect every title, including the company’s most successful: The New Yorker, Vanity Fair, Wired, Glamour, and down the line. The plan is not just a five percent overall spending reduction but rather two distinct five-percent cuts for each title, guaranteeing that titles cannot meet the goal without cutting staff.”

“If we are what we read, then the books the presidential candidates claim to hold dear present clues to their character. Or do they? … All of us polish those lists for public view, and you can’t get more public than running for president. But these lists do tell us something, even if it’s not the truth.”

The Schuler Books & Music stores in Grand Rapids already have cafes and fireplaces to entice customers to spend time there. Now the owners are considering getting a liquor license for their downtown location so they can sell beer and wine as well. (And will McSweeney’s be sponsoring its own craft brew?)

One publisher thinks it has found the next Harry Potter. “It’s not the book that’s especially unusual but the bells and whistles that go with it – what Scholastic calls the ‘multiplatform’ package. Along with the book comes an Internet game, an elaborate system of card collecting, and cash prizes up to $10,000.”

“The Association of Literary Scholars and Critics (ALSC), a national organization that began with a reputation for being ‘conservative,’ ‘old-fashioned,’ and even ‘right-wing,’ seems to be shedding much of that image. But “the ALSC’s shift away from a ‘culture war’ mentality has caused internal dissension.”

“Frank magazine, the satirical scandal sheet that for nearly two decades savaged the reputations of some of Canada’s most powerful politicians, business leaders, celebrities and media figures… announced yesterday that it is ceasing publication of both its newsstand and online editions.”

“Time Inc., the world’s largest magazine publisher, plans to cut 6 percent of its work force – more than 600 positions – and will revamp the organization in a way that could radically alter the culture at the company.”

“The Gannett Company, the nation’s largest newspaper chain, will lay off about 10 percent of its work force by early December, company executives said on Tuesday, a few days after Gannett disclosed another sharp drop in revenue and earnings.”

“Google has reached a landmark agreement with authors and publishers to make millions of books available online, in a deal that includes a $125m (£80m) payout and the end to lawsuits filed by companies including Penguin. The agreement, part of which is subject to the approval of the US District Court in New York, comes after two years of negotiations between the parties and will mark the end of two lawsuits against the Google Book Search tool.”

Given the abysmal experience that awaits customers within the walls of chain booksellers, Charlotte Higgins wonders, how is it that “capitalism has not winnowed out such obviously unsatisfactory stores as Waterstone’s and Borders”?