Publishing News -- 1/28/2009

Publishing, the Economy, and You
This past Monday, companies announced a total of 75,000 layoffs in a single day. That's about the number of people who will attend this weekend's Super Bowl game. In November and December, a total of 1.5 million layoffs were announced. The publishing world is no exception. Publisher's Weekly let its editor-in-chief and three senior editors go. HarperCollins is expanding its early retirement program. The Washington Post will no longer publish its Book World as a separate publication.

These are scary times. And yet, underneath all the negative, intimidating articles, like the small spark in the corner of Pandora's Box, lies a minimal spark of hope. That spark is you. You can't control what happens to you, but you can contain your response to it. There has never been a time where initiative and creativity matter now than it does now. In a separate blog post, I deal with this matter more completely. At the bottom of the first set of links, a single article proposes the same approach.

Someone's going to overcome tremendous odds and succeed. It might as well be you.

Sara Nelson, three others laid off from Publisher's Weekly (Article 1, Article 2) -- The widely respected Nelson and three senior editors were included in a seven-percent workforce reduction.

Washington Post Book World to Cease Standalone Publication -- Content will still appear, but not in a separate section.

HarperCollins Introduces Voluntary Retirement Program -- Layoffs are a possibility down the line.

Depression or Economic Springboard? It's Up to You -- The news is intimidating, but you need to decide whether this is the time for boldness or fear.

Self-Promotion in the Publishing Recession -- Facebook, Twitter (and a favorable review) help second-time author crack the San Fransisco best-seller list.

There's other news, but it'll keep. The economy continues to be front and center, and no bailout, no stimulus package seems to be able to slow the decline. That means it's up to me and it's up to you to come up with the solution to the challenges we face. Whether it'll be easy isn't relevant. It's something that some of us are just going to have to do.