Effective January 1, Penguin Random House will raise its entry-level salary to $51,000, from $48,000, as well as minimum salaries across seven other employment levels. A person at PRH familiar with the move told PW that the salaries reflect the publisher’s desire to “lead the market” in pay rate as well as across other aspects of its business.
Workers in second level non-exempt roles will earn a minimum of $56,000, third level non-exempt employees will earn at least $61,000, and first level exempt roles will start at $66,500. Editors, among those in other roles, will receive a base salary of $73,500. Certain managers, among other roles, will earn a minimum of $76,500 and $79,500 to start, while at least $81,500 has been allocated for senior editors.
“As you likely know, over the last several years, minimum salaries for many roles have been established and made available to all,” the company wrote in a letter to staff. “Where applicable, to address the compression of salaries, employees at adjacent levels may also receive adjustments.”
The move follows years of small bumps to entry level salaries at all of the Big Five Houses since the pandemic. Pending any possible increases to base salaries at the other four houses, the increase makes the entry level rate at Penguin Random House, which is the largest of the five, the highest at any of the houses—$1,000 more than current entry level pay at Simon & Schuster and at HarperCollins, where entry level pay for unionized employees will increase to $50,000 in January. (The work week at PRH and HC is 35 hours, compared to 40 at S&S.)
PW’s annual salary survey, which received 630 responses from across the publishing sector of the book industry, indicated that, on average, workers across all experience levels earned more in 2023 than in 2022, with a 7.3% rise in median compensation over 2022, to $75,000. The share of respondents earning less than $50,000 per year fell to 12% in 2023, from 17% in 2022.
