Bernd Kundrun Steps Down from Bertelsmann Executive Board

Gütersloh, December 24, 2008 – Dr. Bernd Kundrun, a member of the Bertelsmann AG
Executive Board and CEO of Gruner + Jahr, notified the Supervisory Board of Bertelsmann
AG on Tuesday evening that he has stepped down from the Bertelsmann Executive Board
with immediate effect. Bertelsmann is the parent company to Random House.

Bertelsmann Supervisory Board has acknowledged Kundrun’s personal decision and will
comment on it in due course.

Bertelsmann will continue to stand behind Gruner + Jahr as a majority shareholder and will
continue to develop the magazine business, as in the past three decades, together with the
Jahr family as G+J’s second shareholder.

About Bertelsmann AG

Bertelsmann is an international media company encompassing television (RTL Group), book publishing
(Random House), magazine publishing (Gruner + Jahr), media services (Arvato), and media clubs
(Direct Group) in more than 50 countries. Bertelsmann’s claim is to inspire people around the world with
first-class media and communications offerings – entertainment, information and services – and occupy
leading positions in its respective markets. The foundation of Bertelsmann's success is a corporate
culture based on partnership, entrepreneurial spirit, creativity, and corporate responsibility. The
company strives to bring creative new ideas to market and create value.

Random House CEO Letter Focuses On New Opportunities: Year-end staff letter

We think this report from Random House CEO Markus Dohle is especially significant for authors. It confirms that Random House is still buying manuscripts, though it hints between the lines that advances may be lower. Dohle also confirms a growing commitment to e-books. Here's our take on the Dohle letter:

New York, NY (Authorlink News, December 18, 2008)--Random House CEO Markus Dohle distributed an upbeat year-end letter to employees today, promising that the publisher would face today's challenges "directly, confidently and creatively."

Among highlights of the letter, Dohle said Random House would continue to spend several hundred million dollars to acquire and market books worldwide, across its 130 imprints. He said "author development remains our publishers' number one objective." He also noted that publishing imprints would remain "independent and autonomous."

Dohle said the company will be more customer-oriented and market-driven. For example, Random House has consolidated its three sales forces into one for UK and Canadian customers. In Germany, Random House has become the country's first book publisher to instigate three, rather than two,sales cycles. "This will create greater marketing opportunities and a basis for sales growth in the future," the CEO said. "And in the U.S. we are looking at aligning our sales forces even more closely with how most of our customers actually buy our books, by publishing category and format."

Random House also will "significantly reduce the time it takes to re-supply bookstores," who are now ordering lower initial quantities and demanding faster, more frequent stock replenishments. The initiative will also help lower costs of inventory excesses throughout the supply chain."

Dohle put a major emphasis upon growing digitally. He noted that U.S. e-book sales have increased 400% over last year. Thus the company will be budgeting for more e-book growth in 2009. By the middle of 2009, Random House will offer more than 15,000 e-book titles, some of which are newly available on the iPhone.

The publisher's biggest challenge to its bottom line this coming year will continue to be rising costs, Dohle said. Employees will be asked to "consider reducing spending as part of your daily decision-making." He called cost saving "as much a mental as it is a financial discipline. The most we save in costs, the more we will have to invest in our publishing."

Dohle also cited "getting greener" as a top priority. The publisher will increase to 20% the targets for using recycled fiber paper in book production and will set new targets for reducing greenhouse-gas emissions.

"The strength of our 2009 publishing programs clearly illustrates that with every crisis come opportunities," Dohle reminded.

The CEO listed an amazing lineup of authors for 2009 and said, "We cannot allow the economic crisis to overshadow or distract us from the enormous commercial potential of our imprints' publishing programs for the coming twelve months.

Macmillan Publishing Cuts 64 Jobs from Kids Group

Macmillan Cuts

64 Positions

From Kids Group

NEW YORK, NY (Autorlink News, December 15, 2008) --Only a week after announcing a freeze salaries on salaries of $50,000 or more, Macmillan Publishing has now cut 64 jobs across the board at both its trade and college imprints and at Scientific American magazine. The cuts represent about 4% of the U.S. workforce. Positions have been eliminated at all imprints.

CEO John Sargent said the company will unify its children's divisions, bringing all under one to be called Macmillan Children's Publishing Group. Dan Farley will head the new group and also will continued to oversee Henry Holt.

Sargent said the company s trying to "bring some leverage to this market." As part of that effort, Macmillan will form a dedicated sales force for the children's division. The centralized restructuring will help Macmillan operate more efficiently. He said Macmillan will not reduce the size of its list.

Economic Downturn Prompts Macmillan to Freeze Salaries

John Sargent, CEO of MacMillan US, parent company for St. Martin’s Press, Farrar, Straus & Giroux, Tor and other major imprints, announced in a staff memo December 9 that there would be an across-the-board freeze on the salaries of everyone earning more than $50,000. For those making under $50000 thre will b a pool for modest increases.

The freeze will take place January 1, 2009. ”All bonus plans will stay in effect, but all are sensitive to individual profitability and individual performance,” Sargent said.

“Since I spoke to you a month ago about the economic crisis and its impact on our company, I can’t say much has changed,” he wrote. “We are now clearly in a recession and there is still no clarity on how long or deep it will be. What is clear is that retail book sales are down, advertising revenues are down, and even countercyclical businesses like education are struggling in many cases. We are not immune to these forces, and our business continues to be soft. So the time has come to take action for next year.” He said the company would make its usual discretionary contribution to the 4012k plan for 2008 (paid in March 2009).

He said more announcements would come over the next week or two about expense control measures. “. . .I have every confidence that we will be doing as well as the market allows and then some.

Random House Offers Free Titles on Stanza Reader

Random House is once again expanding its reach in the digital world, this time by offering free e-books on the Apple iPhone.

NEW YORK, NY (Authorlink News, December 8, 2008)--Random House and Ballantine will be the first major book publishers to make full-length books available for free on the Apple iPhone through Lexcycle’s Stanza reader, it was jointly announced today by The Random House Publishing Group and Lexcycle, whose Stanza is the most popular electronic book reader for the Apple iPhone and iPod Touch.
This promotion will allow over 500,000 Stanza users to enjoy free eBooks from a varied list of authors including Alan Furst, Julie Garwood, Charlie Huston, David Liss, Laurie Notaro, Arthur Phillips and Simon Rich. The initial offerings will be drawn from each author’s backlist and will include excerpts for any new hardcovers coming in 2009. Random House is providing links to retailers like Amazon, Barnes and Noble.com, Borders.com, Powells.com and IndieBound.org to encourage readers to purchase more books by these authors.
“A free eBook is a great way to sample a new writer, and help spread the word,” says Charlie Huston, whose novels CAUGHT STEALING, SIX BAD THINGS, and A DANGEROUS MAN will all be available on Stanza. “Besides, it’s good to give things away. They’re books. We write them for people to read them.”
Stanza users already have access to a public domain library which sees nearly 40,000 downloads a day.
“Stanza has clearly tapped into an audience that’s hungry for content, and we’re happy to modify our traditional marketing methods to make use of the new technology available to readers today,” commented Avideh Bashirrad, Deputy Director of Marketing for Random House.
Neelan Choksi, Chief Operating Officer of Lexcycle added, “We are thrilled to bring Stanza readers a sampling of the wealth of titles published by the Random House Publishing Group imprints. But this is just the tip of the iceberg: we look forward to extending this promotion to make even more free titles available.”
The free Random House and Ballantine titles will be available beginning today to all Stanza users. Stanza for the Apple iPhone and iPod Touch is available as a free download from the iTunes App Store or from http://www.lexcycle.com.

Random House Publishing Group Undergoes Major Restructuring

Random House

Announces Major

Restructuring

NEW YORK, NY (Authorlink News, December 3, 2008)--Random House Chairman and CEO Markus Dohle today announced a new organizational alignment for the adult publishing divisions of Random House, Inc. in the U.S. Here are the texts of three memos posted this morning to all RH North American staff.

December 3, 2008

“Dear Random House Colleagues:

I am writing today to tell you about a new publishing structure and a new leadership team for the adult trade divisions at Random House, Inc. here in the U.S., effective immediately. After looking closely and extensively at our organization and its rich diversity of authors and resources, we have created a plan for our future that aligns existing strengths and publishing affinities and fosters teamwork throughout the company. It will maximize our growth potential in these challenging economic times and beyond.

The new structure will augment the exceptional publishing programs of the Random House, Knopf and Crown divisions and draw on the veteran leadership of Gina Centrello, Sonny Mehta and Jenny Frost, respectively.

The Random House Publishing Group, under the leadership of President and Publisher Gina Centrello, will expand to include the imprints of the Bantam Dell Publishing Group, including The Dial Press, along with Doubleday’s Spiegel & Grau.

The Knopf Publishing Group, led by Chairman Sonny Mehta, will expand to include the Doubleday and Nan A. Talese imprints from the Doubleday Publishing Group.

The Crown Publishing Group, under the direction of President and Publisher Jenny Frost, will expand to include the other imprints from the Doubleday Publishing Group—Broadway, Doubleday Business, Doubleday Religion and WaterBrook Multnomah.

As a result of this reorganization, Irwyn Applebaum and Steve Rubin, two colleagues who have dedicated many years of service as the publishers of Bantam Dell and Doubleday respectively, will step down from their positions as announced in the accompanying memos.

Within the new Random House Publishing Group, Ballantine, Bantam Dell and Random House will continue to have separate editorial departments. Random House, true to its heritage as the flagship imprint, will continue to publish its diverse list of distinguished and bestselling fiction and nonfiction in hardcover and trade paperback. The addition of The Dial Press and Spiegel & Grau will make this group an even greater force in literary and high-profile publishing. Side by side, Ballantine and Bantam Dell will be a commercial powerhouse with their stellar lists of bestselling and critically acclaimed authors.

The Knopf Publishing Group will augment its enduring reputation as a leading publisher of quality nonfiction and literary fiction—and now some of the biggest names in fiction—with the addition of the flagship Doubleday and Nan A. Talese Books imprints. Collectively, Doubleday

and Knopf have more than two centuries of distinguished publishing history, and Knopf Chairman Sonny Mehta is committed to supporting the great publishing traditions of their now sister imprint. The group will take on a new name, The Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group, and the hardcovers of all their imprints will feed the extraordinary paperback lines of Vintage and Anchor Books.

The Crown Publishing Group’s unique and editorial diverse portfolio combines lifestyle and business books, along with prominent authors and branded businesses which have long dominated their nonfiction categories. The addition of Broadway as well as Doubleday’s business and religion imprints will complement and solidify these core areas of publishing strength. The group’s high-quality nonfiction and fiction frontlist programs will feed the impressive trade paperback lists of Broadway and Three Rivers Press.

I want to stress the fact that all the imprints of Random House will retain their distinct editorial identities. These imprints and all of you who support them are the creative core of our business and essential to our success.

The newly formed publishing groups will continue to bid independently in auctions. Each group will have my full support to publish autonomously, promote aggressively, and strive for more competitive advantages in the marketplace.

Through greater collaborative efforts among the publishing, marketing and sales departments, we can sharpen our priorities, market our books more effectively, and respond more quickly and directly to a constantly changing marketplace. That, in turn, will strengthen our vital partnership with our customers.

Coordinating our online marketing and growing our digital publishing business will be further priorities.

Gina, Jenny, Sonny and I will share our more specific publishing plans and organizational structure in due course.

The highly regarded Random House Children’s Books division, led by President and Publisher Chip Gibson, will continue its remarkable publishing programs without change.

We are all proud of the hundreds of years of publishing that our combined imprints represent. In order to preserve this legacy of excellence and build upon it in the future, we must continuously examine the way we do business, and the way the business is changing. Our aim is to always be a leading force in American trade book publishing.

Because of the current economic crisis, our industry is facing some of the most difficult times in publishing history. We are very fortunate to have four of the most dynamic and accomplished publishers to lead us into this new phase of our life at Random House.

I greatly value the support of all of you who care deeply about our authors and the content and quality of the books we publish. I share your commitment to publish the best books in the best way, and I am excited about the opportunities that these changes offer us. I am convinced that our new organization, drawing on our expertise and focusing on the market with a team-oriented approach, will make our great company stronger than ever before.”

In addition, Dohle announced that IRWYN APPLEBAUM, President and Publisher of the Bantam Dell Publishing Group, will step down from his position, effective immediately, and will leave the company.

“Irwyn leaves with my utmost gratitude for his extraordinary 25 years of service and for all he has accomplished at Bantam Dell. I know you will join me in wishing him all good fortune,” said Dohle in a separate office memo.

As a result of the reorganization of the adult trade publishing groups at Random House Inc., announced today, the position of President and Publisher of the Doubleday Publishing Group has been eliminated. Dohle is currently in discussions with STEPHEN RUBIN about creating a new role for him at Random House, Inc., working directly with the CEO.

HMH PUblisher Resigns

HMH Publisher

Becky Saletan

Resigns Post

NEW YORK, NY (Authorlink News, December 2, 2008)—Becky Saletan, the senior vice president and publisher of adult trade books at Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, has resigned, effective Dec. 10. according to Associated Press and other media sources. Her departure follows reports that the publisher has put a temporary freeze on manuscript acquisitions.

An HMH spokesman confirmed Saletan's resignation but would not offer additional comments, and said the freeze did not apply to education and children's titles, though he had earlier confirmed that the publisher has "temporarily stopped acquiring manuscripts." Saletan, previously the publisher of Harcourt Trade, was named publisher of the combined trade divisions earlier this year after Houghton Mifflin bought Harcourt.

The publisher of one of HMH's imprints, who called the company to confirm the freeze, was told that the story had been "blown out of proportion" and that there was "simply some belt-tightening going on."

The private-equity firm Education Media and Publishing Group, which owns HMH, has acknowledged that competitors have said they are interested in buying the company. Thus, some speculate that the halt on manuscripts signals the sale of the company. However, a spokesman said that he had no knowledge that the company is about to be "shopped."

Boston-based Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company is a global education leader and the world's largest publisher of educational materials for pre-K–12 schools.

See this and other news stories at www.authorlink.com

More on Google Settlement

Hi Everyone,

Highlights for this week at Authorlink include an audio interview with Whiting Award winner Mischa Berlinski, and a must-listen interview with the European Booksellers Federation chair, expressing his concerns over the Google settlement with the Association of American Publishers and the Authors Guild. Let us here your comments. For all this week's news, new December columns and interviews, please go to the Authorlink site.

Audio Interview

Journalist Mischa Berlinski Spent
Three Years Writing His Prize Winning Novel

What began as a history of the Lisu people's conversion to Christianity, was to become Mischa Berlinski's prize-winning novel, Fieldwork which became a finalist for the 2007 National Book Award and more recently, winner of the 2008 Whiting Writers Award. In this AUDIO interview, he talks about the three-year development process.
(December 2008 Feature)

See many Authorlink video/audio interviews here

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Other Featured Columns This Month
Audio/Video/Text

National Book Award Chair Shares
His Vision For American Literature

Harold Augenbraum discussed his vision for the National Book Foundation and America’s National Book Awards (US literature’s Holy Grail). The discussion was broadcast last week on the Internet program WordSmitten.com "About the Books, " leading up to the 59th National Book Awards held November 19 in New York City. See NBF Award winners on Authorlink November 20.
(November/December 2008 Feature)

European Booksellers
Protest Google Settlement

The European Booksellers Federation, with other European publishing organizations, are preparing to air “grave concerns” to the European Union about the $125 million Google settlement with the Association of American Publishers and the Authors Guild. In this exclusive Authorlink audio interview, EBF Chair John McNamee explains their key objections and why, they say, every author should be worried.