Cents and Sensibilities

Download a PDF Appendix of the 2004 Salary Survey Data

The 15th edition of our annual salary survey is our most comprehensive to date, with responses from 911 industry members. Over the 15 years, some things about the trade publishing industry, as revealed by the survey, have not changed. The industry is heavily concentrated in the Northeast, is dominated by women—except in the executive ranks, and men tend to earn more than women across the board.

Some things, however, have changed—morale for one. Ten years ago, more than 75% of publishing employees reported that they were satisfied with their jobs; today that figure is barely more than 50%. More employees than ever report that they are planning a career change, and most would only give a lukewarm endorsement of publishing as a career choice. While salaries have gone up, publishing is still a relatively low-paying profession, one that suffers from few growth prospects. Indeed, the lack of advancement opportunities, which is tied in part to sluggish sales growth for the entire industry, is cited as one of the greatest job frustrations by most industry members.

The average employee in publishing made a little more money in 2004 than in 2003, but was also a little less happy with his or (mostly) her job. PW's annual survey of industry salaries and attitudes found that raises averaged 4.9% in 2004, with the majority of respondents reporting a pay increase of between 3% and 5.9%.

Men, who tend to be employed most heavily in management and in sales and marketing, were happier with their jobs than women, by a count of 59.8% to 54.5%. Men's satisfaction level could be tied to the fact that they earned an average of $67,000 in 2004—compared to $53,000 for women—and that they got higher salary boosts in the year. To justify those extra dollars, men tended to work longer hours than women (31% of men worked more than 50 hours per week, compared to 23% of women). The higher dissatisfaction among women could also be explained by the finding that women are significantly more likely to be frustrated by the lack of career advancement than men.

But if money is the key to happiness, then publishing personnel in the New York/New Jersey/Pennsylvania region are the happiest. Publishing employees in those Mid-Atlantic states had the highest median salaries in three of the four occupational groups measured by the survey, losing out only to New England in the management category.

Looking at average salaries of some specific positions, the PW survey found the median salary for an editor-in-chief to be $101,000, with the highest-paid topping out at above $142,500. The median salary for a sales director was $90,000, although that figure does not include commissions, which add an average of 17% to a salesperson's base salary.

Turnover in the industry was up last year, measuring 14.5% compared to 12.9% in 2003, with the greatest turnover coming in the sales and marketing ranks. And while only 26% of respondents said they expect to add staff this year, only 2% were expecting layoffs.

Over the next two years, 29% of those who responded to the survey said they expect to leave their current company, including 10% who plan to change careers and 5% who hope to start their own publishing houses. Most people—34%—said they expect to remain in their positions in 2007.

For some of the industry's top execs, moderate salary increases were augmented by bonuses and, in some cases, by cashing in stock options last year.

Barnes & Noble vice-chairman Steve Riggio had a 12% increase in salary, while his bonus doubled last year. Publishing chief Alan Kahn's bonus also doubled in 2004, while his salary rose 8%, to $540,385. B&N.com chief Marie Toulantis's bonus dropped by $50,000 and her base salary stayed at $600,000.

Books-A-Million's Sandy Cochran got an 11% raise last year, to $400,000, and her bonus increased 5%. Executive chairman Clyde Anderson's take-home pay declined as the result of giving up the CEO role to Cochran, but he did receive $977,342 from exercising 187,999 stock options.

The salary of Greg Josefowicz, chairman, president and CEO of Borders Group, stayed at $710,000 in 2004, but his bonus dropped 47%. Chief marketing officer Michael Spinozzi's salary went up by nearly $11,000 last year, to $285,750, but his bonus fell by $52,332. Josefowicz also cashed in options worth $960,875, while Spinozzi's options were worth $175,588.

Educational Development Corp. chairman and president Randall White's salary rose 13%, to $145,500 and his bonus went up $2,000, to $22,000. White also earned $321,000 from exercising his option on 40,000 shares.

Tony Lucki, who took the helm at Houghton Mifflinin fall 2003, earned a base salary of $600,000 last year and a bonus of just over $1.1 million. McDougal, Littell head Rita Schaefer's $458,229 bonus last year included a "special" bonus of $129,934.

Thomas Nelson CEO Sam Moore's base salary remained at $450,000 for the fiscal year ended March 31, 2005, but his bonus fell 44.5%. President Michael Hyatt's salary rose 29%, to $300,000, but his bonus was cut 35%. Hyatt cashed in 20,000 options worth $277,475.

Penguin Group chairman John Makinson's salary rose 2% last year, to £460,000 ($878,600), but his bonus was trimmed 6%, to £119,000 ($227,000). He also earned £232,000 in "other" compensation, including £184,517 tied to a premium for managing Penguin US. Peter Jovanovich, who has stepped down from Pearson Education, saw a big jump in his bonus last year, to £571,000 ($1,090,600), to complement his £473,000 ($903,400) salary.

For the fiscal year ended May 31, 2004, neither Scholastic chairman Dick Robinson nor children's book publishing chief Barbara Marcus received a bonus. In fiscal '04, Marcus did exercise 17,000 options worth $218,675. Deborah Forte, president of Scholastic Entertainment, earned a $130,000 bonus.

John Wiley CEO Will Pesce's bonus increased 40%, to $1.1 million in fiscal 2004, while Stephen Kippur's bonus also increased 40%, to $396,396. The two men also cashed in a number of options in fiscal '04, with Pesce exercising 100,000 options worth $2.1 million and Kippur earning $1.8 million from exercising 89,536 options.

Selected Executive Salaries, 2003—2004

Job Satisfaction

Employees have become less satisfied with their jobs over the last three years. Only 56% of employees in this year's survey said they were extremely satisfied or very satisfied with their jobs, while 44% said they were somewhat satisfied or not satisfied.

Happy

Unhappy

Males vs. Females

Men received an average raise of 5.4% in 2004, compared to 4.7% for women.

Salaries RiseWhat was the size of your last salary increase?

Number of Hours Worked Per Week

The Importance of Bonuses

For those who received extra compensation (bonuses/commissions) in 2004, the money amounted to 17% of Sales/Marketing total salaries and 19%of Management's.

Job SecurityHow much job security do you feel, given the current economy?

Where the Money Is

Not surprisingly, the Northeast—including New England and the Mid-Atlantic states—is where the biggest pay checks were handed out in 2004. The Midwest tended to have the lowest salaries. Below, the median salaries.

Bigger Is BetterWorking at a large company pays off on pay day: across the board, employees at the biggest houses cash the biggest checks. A few examples below.

Where You Fall....

Where You'll Be

29% of sample expects to leave their company in the next two years. (47% of those working in Operations have plans to leave their company.)

The Big ShotsBelow is a snapshot of some of the highest-paying jobs, by region.

Would you recommend publishing as a career to a recent graduate?