After weeks of rumors about impending layoffs, employees at the Washington Post were informed Wednesday morning that the Jeff Bezos–owned newspaper would be eliminating its books section, Book World, along with an array of other sections.
Book World, whose reviews are nationally syndicated, was culled as part of an attempt by the paper’s leadership to reverse course amid years of losses and a shrinking audience. In all, the Post is laying off one-third of staff across all departments.
Book World relaunched in 2022 under editor John Williams, an industry veteran with 11 years at the News York Times Book Review, as well as a stint at HarperCollins, under his belt. The section revitalized its online coverage and started printing a Sunday section for the first time since 2009; its staff included fiction critic Ron Charles, nonfiction critic Becca Rothfeld, and Pulitzer Prize–winning columnist Michael Dirda.
In a post on X, Book World editor Jacob Brogan wrote that he was “heartbroken,” adding that the “existence of a standalone books section felt like a real celebration of a culture of literacy, dialogue, and even debate.”
Brogan also noted that Book World’s traffic was “quite good on the whole, especially relative to the general decline of newspaper audiences across the board.”
The Post’s decision to nix Book World comes as the number of newspapers that run dedicated books content is dwindling. In September, the AP shuttered its book review operation, which was widely syndicated by smaller newspapers across the country.
Standalone books sections in newspapers began disappearing more than 20 years ago, leaving The New York Times Book Review as one of the last survivors.
According to Semafor, Post executive editor Matt Murray said the cuts are about “positioning ourselves to become more essential to people's lives, and what is becoming a more crowded, competitive and complicated media landscape.”
