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NEW YORK, Dec. 7 (AP) In 2022, the story of book publishing is often the industry itself.
Penguin Random House’s attempt to buy Simon & Schuster ended up in a Washington, D.C. court, as the Justice Department won last summer following a three-week antitrust trial that was part of a wide-ranging and often unsettling review of how the business operates. A flattering survey. In November, about 250 HarperCollins unionized workers went on strike as their calls for higher wages and benefits and more diversity in the workplace amplified an industry-wide discussion of historically low wages for lower- and middle-level workers.
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During the year, social media was the gathering place for observations and revelations about trials, strikes and other issues the publishing world had once been limited to private gatherings. Authors publish their book advances, agents criticize HarperCollins and other publishers, and editors share their year-by-year salaries. Some staff, such as former Macmillan editor Molly McGee, announced on Twitter last March that they had had enough and were quitting.
In her resignation letter, McGhee cited the “invisibility of junior staff workloads” and claimed that “many executives in the publishing industry are technically illiterate” and dependent on their assistants.
“I have a theory that the publishing industry is at a very important decision point where it has to decide whether it wants to move forward with 20th-century ideas or whether it wants to join other industries and move into the 21st century,” McGhee, 28, said recently. “And I think it’s very difficult for them to make that transition.”
“When I first started, there were very important conversations going on that were not going to be public,” said Kate Testerman, founder of KT Literary Agency. “The only thing you can talk about is what happened. people who are colleagues or your friends.”
Jonathan Karp, chief executive of Simon & Schuster, offered a more succinct assessment: “We live in expressive times.”
Despite the stunning success of novelist Colleen Hoover, book sales are down about 6% from record highs in 2021, according to NPD BookScan, which tracks about 85% of hardcover and paperback sales. Publishers cited easing of pandemic regulations and more people leaving their homes as a factor. But the figure is still higher than in 2019, the last year before the pandemic, and the power of literature remains high, not only in the minds of the book world but also among government officials and political activists.
Assistant Attorney General Jonathan Kanter, responding to a U.S. District Court decision last fall to block Penguin Random House’s merger with Simon & Schuster, said the proposed deal would “diminish the breadth, depth and diversity of our stories and ideas and ultimately Democracy becomes impoverished.”
Meanwhile, conservative efforts to remove books from schools and libraries continue, with nearly 300 titles targeted in Missouri alone, ranging from Margaret Atwood’s dystopian “Handmaid’s Tale” to Shakespeare’s “Hamlet.” “The comic version. The American Library Association reported a surge in attempted book bans, especially those with racial and LGBTQ themes, as well as widespread harassment of librarians. Moms for Liberty, a prominent advocate for book removal, defines its mission as defending “parental rights at all levels of government.”
In some ways, book publishing remains an outlier from other arts and entertainment industries. Video and music stores have mostly disappeared, but brick-and-mortar bookstores remain despite Amazon.com’s growing size and influence; the American Booksellers Association, the trade group for independent stores, has membership at its highest level in decades. Publishing also remains noble compared to music, movies or sports, and executives such as Hachette CEO Michael Pietsch said under oath during the Penguin Random House trial that surrogates would not lie to them .
“It would be devastating (if they did),” Pietsch told The Associated Press recently. “Our industry relies heavily on trust to function.”
But beyond that, Penguin Random House US CEO Madeline McIntosh said the industry is no longer deviating from larger trends — whether it’s inflation and supply chain delays, or issues around diversity and working conditions. She and others cite the pandemic, the Black Lives Matter movement and social media, and the emerging influence of younger workers.
“Some of us sound like older generations from the rise of the hippies, and now we’re like kids, what the hell are they doing?” said Mackintosh, 53. “Given the state of the world today, it’s entirely logical that Gen Z is determined to change things up. This could be one of the generations that will leave its mark on the culture for a very long time.”
Karp sees the current moment as Gen Z’s coming of age, not just at the press but on the bestseller list, with Hoover’s “From Us,” Janet McCurdy’s memoir “I’m Glad My Mother Died” ” and romantic comedies such as Tessa Bailey’s “Hooks, Lines and Sinks” have benefited from the enthusiasm of young readers.
Karp, 58, knows the generational difference himself: After Simon & Schuster announced it would publish former Vice President Mike Pence’s memoir, “God Bless,” young staff confronted him in a virtual town hall meeting , against Pence’s service in the Trump administration and his conservative stance on gay rights and other issues. Some have publicly expressed displeasure with Karp’s response to Simon & Schuster’s commitment to a range of political views.
“They want answers, and they deserve answers,” Karp said recently. “I don’t think there’s anything wrong with questioning your work culture.”
Over the past few years, staffers have challenged and upended traditions that have persisted for decades or more, going all the way back to the origins of American book publishing — a culture of political freedom dedicated to expanding the public mind itself centered on white men. Lord; the dynamism of the publishing mission—and the charm of New York’s literary culture—makes up for the low pay (often under $50,000 for new hires) and the long hours that force some employees to live at home or share with multiple roommates for years apartment.
“There’s an understanding that you have to prove your commitment. If you stick with it, then you’ll see money. Just get through the first five years,” said Rachel Kambury, 31, who is currently is an associate editor at HarperCollins magazine, and is currently on strike. “I feel like a lot of the issues that are prevalent in the publishing industry right now have been unraveled.”
“In recent years, I’ve met a lot of young people with very different sensibilities and vocabularies,” said Maureen Johnson, a 49-year-old author of “13 Little Blue Envelopes” and the forthcoming “Nine Liar,” part of her “Really Sly” series. “I don’t think they’re kidding. They have a sense of their own worth as human beings and believe that things don’t have to be this way. ” (Associated Press)
(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from a Syndicated News feed, the content body may not have been modified or edited by LatestLY staff)
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