In a memo sent out this morning mere hours after the publishing world was stunned by news of a major reorganization at Random House, Simon & Schuster C.E.O. Carolyn Reidy told staff that 35 jobs would be cut in what she called an unavoidavble response to the "current bookselling marketplace and what may very well be a prolonged period of economic instability."
"We have literally examined our budget line by line to find those areas large and small where we might further economize," Ms. Reidy’s note said.
Those affected have been informed, according to our sources, and while most of the cuts affect people holding administrative positions in sales and operations, at least one editor, Denise Roy, who has been an editor at S&S for more than 13 years, has also lost her job. Ms. Roy edited both fiction and non-fiction; recent books include Jessica Lamb-Shapiro’s Promise Land, about the culture of self-help in America, and a novel by Marisa Silver called The God of War.
Simon & Schuster staff are said to be gathering at 3 p.m. to find out more details.
At Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, meanwhile, "a lot" of people have lost their jobs, according to executive editor Ann Patty, who told GalleyCat this morning that she had been fired and was looking forward to a future "much brighter than [her] recent past."
