Another book publisher is cutting jobs: Macmillan, where authors include Thomas Friedman, Rick Atkinson and Janet Evanovich, is eliminating 64 positions, just under 4 percent of its work force.
"Going forward we are tightening our belts in response to the current recession, but we are also reorganizing and rethinking our business to position ourselves for the long term," Macmillan chief executive, John Sargent, wrote in a company memo, a copy of which was obtained Monday by The Associated Press.
Simon & Schuster, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt and Thomas Nelson also have announced layoffs in recent weeks. Staff reductions are likely at Random House Inc., which is undergoing a significant consolidation.
In a move Sargent said he had been looking into for months, Macmillan will combine its seven children's companies into a single division, the Macmillan Children's Publishing Group, effective Jan. 1.
Macmillan also plans reductions through a "centralized business and production group for its adult and children's publishing companies," according to the memo.
Other changes include the increased use of digital technology and reducing Macmillan's presence at BookExpo America, the industry's annual national convention.
Macmillan's publishers include St. Martin's Press, Henry Holt & Co. and Farrar, Straus & Giroux. Macmillan is owned by Verlagsgruppe Georg von Holtzbrinck, based in Stuttgart, Germany.
