In case any of us were wondering how bad things really are in the print publication universe, this sad news<\/a> came across the wires today.<\/p>\n <\/span><\/p>\n
Quote:<\/b><\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n| The country’s largest trade publisher, Random House Inc., has frozen the pensions of its current employees and eliminated them for future hires, the latest cuts in an industry hit by declining sales and anticipating, at best, a difficult 2009.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n | <\/p>\n Most likely this was in response to this disturbing information:<\/p>\n <\/span><\/p>\n Sales for B&N stores 15 months or older, a key indicator of a retailer’s health, fell 7.4 percent from last year.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n <\/p>\n and<\/p>\n <\/span><\/p>\n "What I think is happening is that you would have somebody who would go into a store and buy a front list title, and then … buy a second book. And now they aren’t buying that second book," says Simon & Schuster CEO Carolyn Reidy.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n <\/p>\n What this means is even less diversity of books and authors from the mainstream publishers. Fewer new authors or original ideas. Just rehashing of the same old shit.. over and over again. Also, fewer overall titles. This presents an even bleaker outlook than previously thought for the foreseeable future in the book world.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" In case any of us were wondering how bad things really are in the print publication universe, this sad news came across the wires today. Quote: The country’s largest trade publisher, Random House Inc., has frozen the pensions of its … Continue reading |