Kind of discouraging - not the best time to be peddling our manuscripts...sigh.
http://www.publishersweekly.com/article/CA6617241.html
http://www.publishersweekly.com/article/CA6617241.html
Houghton-Mifflin stops acquisitions
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Ack.
Realistically, though, you'd pretty much have to recognize that the current economic crisis would have to impact the major houses. What's really scary to contemplate is the fate of the smaller houses if this keeps up. I have a feeling that HM may have been a bit premature in this, and can only hope it doesn't set off some sort of wacked out domino effect.
Realistically, though, you'd pretty much have to recognize that the current economic crisis would have to impact the major houses. What's really scary to contemplate is the fate of the smaller houses if this keeps up. I have a feeling that HM may have been a bit premature in this, and can only hope it doesn't set off some sort of wacked out domino effect.
The only possible answer... is to buy more books!!! Support our plight in these troubled economic times.
I am starting to feel the HM domino effect... sales are waaaay down and no publisher wants new acquisitions at this certain point in time.
I am starting to feel the HM domino effect... sales are waaaay down and no publisher wants new acquisitions at this certain point in time.
I think this is really, really bad news for those of us seeking agent representation right now. Agents know that publishers will be very wary about taking on an unknown author.
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Nah, the people who really need to worry are the people with one or two books published to non-spectacular sales.
New writers always have the potential to be the Next Big Thing.
Buy more everything. The only way to stave off economic slow down is to move the money around.
The article says they've stopped aquiring in "trade and reference divisions"...that doesn't include fiction does it?
*clueless*
I work in the Publishing business (temporarily - I'm retiring soon) for an educational publishing house. Our sales in the past couple months have been very strong, but there are definite indications that consumers want the nitty gritty - solid educational books rather than fluff - the best bang for the buck, so to speak.
For us, trade refers to all the mass market, clubs, bookstores, etc. while educational refers obviously to the schools. So the notice that HM has cut off acquisitions in trade might affect fiction, at least from the perspective I have. Puma
For us, trade refers to all the mass market, clubs, bookstores, etc. while educational refers obviously to the schools. So the notice that HM has cut off acquisitions in trade might affect fiction, at least from the perspective I have. Puma
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Grand.
It's okay, Tp - once you get past the first flash of pain, you don't even feel the rest of the cuts along your wrists...
I'm certainly no expert on the subject, but if Houghton Mifflin bought Harcourt in July 07, that would have been at the very top of the market. Maybe this has more to do with their own financial woes instead of being indicative of something larger.
No?
No?
Bad economy officially hits publishing--Book Publisher Suspends New Acquisitions
Boy how I wish this were PublishAmerica! Alas, the publisher is Harcourt
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, the publisher of authors including Philip Roth, Jonathan Safran Foer, Günter Grass and J. R. R. Tolkien, has temporarily suspended acquisitions of new manuscripts, a company spokesman said Monday.
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He said he could not be specific about what criteria would govern decisions about what manuscripts to buy, but said that editors would have to prove to an acquisitions committee that the book showed concrete evidence of “market interest.”
Boy how I wish this were PublishAmerica! Alas, the publisher is Harcourt
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, the publisher of authors including Philip Roth, Jonathan Safran Foer, Günter Grass and J. R. R. Tolkien, has temporarily suspended acquisitions of new manuscripts, a company spokesman said Monday.
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He said he could not be specific about what criteria would govern decisions about what manuscripts to buy, but said that editors would have to prove to an acquisitions committee that the book showed concrete evidence of “market interest.”
Last week the Bookseller reported agents are having a hard time selling debut and literary novels.
http://www.thebookseller.com/news/71232-buyers-scared-say-agents.html
http://www.thebookseller.com/news/71232-buyers-scared-say-agents.html
One thing to realize with HMH is that it is highly leveraged -- borrowed a boatload of money. Businesses in this type of position are very subject to downturns in their business, as they tend to have high fixed costs.
Some book publishers are highly leveraged, but others are more conservatively funded.
Although we're probably going to see a reduced number of books accepted, what we're going to see even more of is significantly smaller advances. HMH is sacrificing its long-term business to deal with a short-term problem. Although it may have quite a few books in the process of being published, if it continues this policy for long, it's going to create a gap, as well as seeing a significant drop in its employees.
As well as the writers with HMH, it's the employees of HMH who are in trouble. If I worked there, I'd be polishing my resume like crazy. I won't be surprised if in a month or so, you see HMH doing a major lay-off.
Best of luck,
Jim Clark-Dawe
Some book publishers are highly leveraged, but others are more conservatively funded.
Although we're probably going to see a reduced number of books accepted, what we're going to see even more of is significantly smaller advances. HMH is sacrificing its long-term business to deal with a short-term problem. Although it may have quite a few books in the process of being published, if it continues this policy for long, it's going to create a gap, as well as seeing a significant drop in its employees.
As well as the writers with HMH, it's the employees of HMH who are in trouble. If I worked there, I'd be polishing my resume like crazy. I won't be surprised if in a month or so, you see HMH doing a major lay-off.
Best of luck,
Jim Clark-Dawe
According to agent Kristin Nelson, HMH is still acquiring in its children's department.
http://pubrants.blogspot.com/2008/11/hmh-hold-is-not-for-children.html
http://pubrants.blogspot.com/2008/11/hmh-hold-is-not-for-children.html
We've got two similar threads going.
http://www.absolutewrite.com/forums/showthread.php?t=122734
http://www.absolutewrite.com/forums/showthread.php?t=122749
http://www.absolutewrite.com/forums/showthread.php?t=122734
http://www.absolutewrite.com/forums/showthread.php?t=122749
...but then their name does sound suspiciously like Dunder Mifflin...
Heh, I could get Dwight to buy my MSS.
But seriously, folks. Hasn't it always been the idea for publishers to buy scripts with "market interest?"
Yes! I think they're just prepping literary agents to expect lower advances for their clients and to make us poor sods even more grateful when/if we get the next deal.
I'd buy a book by Dwight. It'd be virtually unreadable, but it'd probably make the bestseller list.
Actually.. I imagine a book by Dwight would be a funnier version of John Hodgman's "The Areas of My Expertise." I expect a whole chapter on beet farming, and another one profiling all the evil people named Andrew.
Seriously... a Dunder-Mifflin book must already be in the works, no? Something along the lines of the Daily Show's textbook or Six Feet Under's family scrapbook?
Seriously... a Dunder-Mifflin book must already be in the works, no? Something along the lines of the Daily Show's textbook or Six Feet Under's family scrapbook?
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Thanks a lot, said the writer with 13 books published (three by Houghton Mifflin), all of them to non-spectacular sales.
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I read on Publisher's Lunch that HMH would consider selling its trade division. The private equity company that own HMH also said "...we will continue to evaluate opportunities if and when we decide to lift the freeze."
If?
ETA: Guess I should provide a link.
If?
ETA: Guess I should provide a link.
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"If and when" is a jargon phrase common to business-speak. It says more about the mentality of the suits who run the place, most of whom don't give a rat's about books, except for the ones that contain their profit-and-loss statements.
caw
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