Henry Holt, which, according to new publisher John Sterling, has "not been profitable for a while," has eliminated a number of jobs in the process of cutting its lists and folded Owl Books back into the hardcover group.
Sterling declined to give an exact number of jobs cut, but there were widespread reports that the layoffs totaled 17, representing nearly 20% of Holt's approximately 100 employees. Among the casualties were Owl v-p, associate publisher and Holt executive director Wendy Sherman; senior editor Ray Roberts; director of reference marketing Audrey Melkin; and Andrea Schultz, who came aboard only five months ago from Ballantine to buy reprints for Owl.
Sterling described the cuts as "painful," but told PW they were necessary for two reasons. One is that the combined Holt imprints, hard and soft, which had been publishing about 250 titles a year, are already doing fewer, and the list is to be cut even further in the future. He envisaged the 1999 total as being closer to 200, observing that he "would be happiest with an ultimate total of no more than 175. A smaller list inevitably means a smaller staff." He added that the staff cuts did not affect the Books for Young Readers division, although jobs were eliminated in Holt and Owl editorial, sales and marketing and editorial production and design. Metropolitan Books will remain a separate imprint.
The second reason for the cutbacks is the return of Owl to the hardcover group. Sterling noted the thinking had originally been, before he came aboard last fall, that Owl could be more successful as a separate imprint. However, he continued, "In a marketplace where hard and soft imprints are commonly working together, and where sales and marketing are already integrated, it didn't seem to make sense any longer." Books will continue to appear under the Owl imprint, he explained, but there will be no more reprints of outside titles.
Sterling said no pressure had come from John Sargent, St. Martin's CEO and senior U.S. executive of the Von Holtzbrinck group that owns Holt. "He asked me to do what I thought needed to be done to make the company profitable again, and I've done it. He's been very supportive."
