Revenue

Book Business has released the results of its first annual “20 Best Book Publishing Companies to Work For” study in this month’s issue of the magazine. The study, conducted in cooperation with Accelara Publishing Research, ranked New York-based Random House Inc. as the No. 1 book publishing company to work for, with an overall rating of 96.5 out of 100. In addition to the overall rating, companies also received scores in individual categories, including Satisfying High-Performance Company, Fair & Open Work Environment, and Personal Benefits. Random House, the world’s largest English-language trade book publisher, was lauded by its employees for its staff autonomy,

Stuttgart, Germany-based media company Verlagsgruppe Georg von Holtzbrinck GmbH has changed the name of its U.S. publishing arm, Holtzbrinck Publishers in the U.S., to Macmillan. Macmillan already is the name of the company’s English- and Spanish-language publishing operations in more than 70 countries. According to the company, the name was changed to unify the worldwide presence of the publisher. “The Macmillan name has a long and distinguished publishing history and a long tradition of innovation that complements perfectly the high-quality standards that our publishers offer to our authors and our audience,” says John Sargent, chief executive officer, Macmillan in the U.S. “This name

1. Random House Inc. 2. Business 21 Publishing LLC 3. Rodale Inc. 4. Meredith Corp. 5. State University of New York Press 6. Consumers Union 7. Oxford University Press USA 8. BowTie Inc./BowTie Press 9. Pearson/Pearson Education 10. Columbia University Press 11. Lerner Publishing Group 12. Prestwick House Inc. 13. The University of Chicago Press 14. John Wiley & Sons Inc. 15. The Jewish Publication Society 16. Reed Business Information 17. Scholastic

If a formula exists for creating a great work environment, Random House Inc. seems to have found it. The world’s largest trade book publisher has created a structure that strikes a balance between employee support and autonomy, overall corporate vision and individual contributions. Along with a strong ethos of promoting wellness and a healthy work-life balance, the company has, according to its employees, managed to foster a spirit of entrepreneurship and collective responsibility—no mean feat for a book publishing group with a combined workforce of more than 3,000 supporting the publishing efforts of more than 120 separate U.S. imprints. Fostering a great work

Depending on which study results you stumble upon, somewhere between 60 percent and almost 90 percent of Americans don’t like their jobs. And somewhere between 1 million and 1.4 million people call in sick every day. Sure, a percentage of those people probably have the flu, migraines or other ailments, but many of them likely have a serious case of Ihatemyjobitis. Book Business’ first annual study on the “20 Best Book Publishing Companies to Work For” explores which companies in the industry rank highest among their employees for overall job satisfaction. Each company that was nominated by its employees was rated based on

Cambridge, Mass.-based Candlewick Press was launched 15 years ago as the U.S. publishing arm of London-based children’s book publisher Walker Books. Since its inception, the company has grown into one of the largest independent publishing companies in the world. Today, it boasts nearly 100 employees, more than 3,000 published titles and countless industry awards, including the 2007 Theodor Seuss Geisel Award for “Zelda and Ivy: The Runaways,” by Laura Kvasnosky, and this year’s E.B. White Read-Aloud Award for “Houndsley and Catina,” by James Howe and illustrated by Marie-Louise Gay. Both of these award-winning titles were among the first four titles released in the

In business since the 1970s, Nolo––a Berkeley, Calif.-based trade publisher specializing in legal publications––established a presence on the Web in 1994 and has been aggressively pursuing online opportunities ever since. Mary Randolph, the company’s vice president of editorial, recently spoke with Book Business Extra about Nolo’s stance on controversial topics such as Open Access and Google Book Search, and why the company believes in giving away a lot of its content. Extra: What do you feel are the biggest challenges your publishing segment is facing right now? Mary Randolph: We are primarily a trade publisher, and our main markets are bookstores and libraries. As we

By Jim Calder Michael Weinstein’s 31-year work history reads like a list of top publishing companies: Macmillan, Pitman Publishing, Addison Wesley, Random House, McGraw-Hill, HarperCollins and Pearson Education, among others. Currently, Weinstein is vice president, EDP (editing, design and production) and manufacturing, at Oxford University Press. After decades working at some of the most notable companies in the industry and after many professional accomplishments, Weinstein’s career achievements now are being recognized. Weinstein is being inducted into the Publishing Executive Hall of Fame, an honor bestowed on the leading publishing executives in book, magazine and advertising production. And, he is only the second executive

Publishers of all sizes have to manage detailed and vital information about the rights they own, the rights they have sold, and the royalties they either owe or are owed. It can be a significant accounting undertaking. Especially with the burgeoning digital marketplace, book publishers are increasingly redistributing their content in any number of ways and thus, generating additional revenue––as well as the need to manage additional rights and royalties. Fortunately, there are a number of solutions on the market today, from services that help publishers license their content to those that help automate the tracking and payments process to save time and

It’s a good time to be a professional publisher. This industry segment continues to post above-average sales growth, while many of its publishers are at the forefront of the digital revolution that has been transforming the way we publish and read books. According to the Book Industry Study Group’s “Book Industry Trends 2007” report, sales of professional books increased by 3.2 percent in 2006 over the previous year, from $8.6 billion to $8.9 billion. This increase ranked professional publishing as the third-largest growth segment in dollar sales, behind only religious books (5.6-percent growth) and adult trade (3.9-percent growth). A ‘Glutted’ Market While the