As announced last Wednesday (Wednesday, April 23, 2008):
FROM WHERE I SIT
the blog of Michael S. Hyatt, President & CEO of Thomas Nelson Publishers:
“As you may have read in Publishers Weekly or the Tennessean, yesterday we laid off slightly less than 10% of our workforce. This was not an easy decision. It fact, it would not be an exaggeration to say this was one of the most difficult decisions of my tenure Thomas Nelson.
“Of course, layoffs are not that notable, especially in the current economy. You can’t open the paper without reading about companies laying off thousands and—in some cases—tens of thousands of employees. Sadly, it’s now become routine. Until it happens to you. Or someone you care about.
“But, honestly, our layoffs weren’t the result of the economy. They didn’t happen because we had a bad year. (Our fiscal year ended March 31.) To be sure, it wasn’t a great year. But it was decent. We saw modest growth on the top line (about 4%) and really good growth on the bottom line (about 14%).
“So then, if it wasn’t the economy, why did we feel the need to layoff these good people? Because we have changed our business strategy:
As I have previously announced, we are cutting our new title introductions in half for this year.
This change is designed to align us with a shift in the marketplace toward fewer titles generating more of the sales. It will also enable us to invest most of our resources where we can generate the biggest returns.”
As the publisher of such mega blockbusting Science Fiction, Fantasy, Thriller and Horror authors as Ted Dekker, T. Davis Bunn, Jerry B. Jenkins and Stephen Lawhead, it's sad to note here that it appears, despite the softening language, that Thomas Nelson will ONLY be opting to publish
ABSOLUTELY CERTAIN X-IAN BLOCKBUSTER BOOKS FROM NOW ON...
A sad day for Christ and His followers when business concerns outweigh the leading of the Holy Spirit...oh, I know that have to make a profit, please stockholders and put food on the table. But...but...but...I noticed Mr. Hyatt didn't mention anywhere, "After much prayer and fasting..." or "During prayer time for us and our staff, we feel the Lord leading us to..."
Sad, sad, very, very, sad...
April 20, 2008
A Slice of PIE: Thomas Nelson Opts for Blockbusters ONLY
Guy Stewart is a husband; a father, father-in-law, grandfather, friend, writer, and recently retired teacher, and school counselor who maintains a SF/YA/Childrens writing blog by the name of POSSIBLY IRRITATING ESSAYS
that showcases his opinion and offers his writing up for comment. He has almost 70 publications to his credit including one book (1993 CSS Publishing)! He also maintains blogs for the West Suburban Summer School and GUY'S GOTTA TALK ABOUT DIABETES, ALZHEIMER'S & BREAST CANCER!
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
3 comments:
Guy, this news reminded me right away of The Long Tail theory, which says--if I'm understanding it correctly--that in the age of the Internet, media producers and distributors can make a significant profit from selling non-blockbuster titles. It makes quite a bit of sense to me, and so it seems like Thomas Nelson has made a poor business decision--particularly in light of the CEO saying they're coming off a good year, and independent from the (lack of) religious language he uses to explain the decision.
Well that's just great. Now, not only do I want to bail on the whole world of writing, but what motivation does that leave any of our children who want to write. Oh wait, I know, do it for the LOVE of writing. Because we all know how very motivating it is to put your life's blood into something that will never go farther than your flash drive. Now there's a reason to get up in the morning, fulfilling your gigabyte quota! Please pause while I tell the nearest child that unless they write like Dekker or Bunn, they may as well save the storage space. Bravo Thomas Nelson!
Is this surprising to you? Christianity itself has become an industry. The Church is now defined in the world by the crap it sells.
To Jennifer,
Be not discouraged. Markets and moods change quickly.
Post a Comment