More Staff Reductions At Random House
by Bridget Kinsella and Steven Zeitchik -- Publishers Weekly, 1/14/2002
The trimming of the Random House staff continues, with cuts at the publisher's children's book group, Crown Publishing Group and its West Coast publicity office. In addition, Carol Schneider, long-time executive director of publicity for Random adult books, is now on a three-day work week.
Saying it had outlasted its original purpose, Random closed its West Coast publicity office and let go five employees. The handful of publicists who remain will work out of their homes. Of the employees who lost their jobs when the office, located in Santa Monica, was shut, three came from "little" Random and two worked at Knopf. The biggest name among the casualties is Random's Suzanne Wickham-Beaird, an 18-year veteran of the company. Random House confirmed that the two Knopf publicists were given the option to relocate to New York City, but declined. Pam Henstell, a long-time Knopf employee, will continue working from her home office. Crown publicists, as well as Ballantine's two West Coast PR reps, are also still full-time.
The Southern California space predates Random's purchase by Bertelsmann and was in many ways, said officials, a vestigial structure, with few of the Bertelsmann divisions using it. "As interesting an idea as it was, the office never caught on with some of the publishers. In the end, it was just too much space for our needs," said spokesperson Stuart Applebaum.
In the children's division, a "relatively small number of our overall staff" was let go, according to Judith Haut, v-p and executive director of publicity, Random House Children's Books. They include Sharon Hancock from the school and library marketing department, as well as "some reductions" in the staff of Golden Books, which was acquired last summer by Random House.
At Crown, "fewer than 10" jobs were eliminated as the group looks to cut costs because of the slow economy, said Tina Constable, v-p and executive director of publicity.
As for Schneider, she retains her title as executive director of publicity, and Tom Perry, director of publicity, will continue to report to her.
Reports suggest that the next area targeted for changes is the company sales force.
