Melville House Books

Sara Nelson

In another move so drastic and ill-considered that it seems to signal yet another major institution of American publishing is on the verge of death because its foreign-conglomerate ownership wants out of the book busines, Sara Nelson, the editor in chief of Publishers Weekly was laid off yesterday — bizarrely, not to mention cruelly, on the very day she’d posted a column saying she was “feeling kind of hopeful … that — please, please — publishing business firings are coming to an end, at least for a while.” Nelson, a widely respected veteran book industry journalist, author of the book So Many Books, So Little Time, and one of the most popular figures in New York publishing circles, was “laid off in a restructuring by the publication’s parent company, Reed Business Information,” according to a New York Times report by Motoko Rich. Overall, Reed announced it was laying off 7 percent of the staff from all its publications, which include Library Journal, School Library Journal, and Criticas. “Brian Kenney, editor in chief of School Library Journal, will now be editorial director of that magazine along with Publishers Weekly and Library Journal,” says Rich. No word on whether he’ll also take up Nelson’s much talked-about weekly column (which is archived here).

Nelson’s dismissal drew some immediate outrage, in particular from Los Angeles Times Book Revew editor David Ulin, who called it “an inexplicable decision, shortsighted and flat-out wrong.” In a commentary posted quickly on the newspaper’s book blog, Jacket Copy, Ulin called Nelson “a force in the publishing industry: a smart commentator, an enthusiastic advocate and an editor with her eye on the future,” and said “this is bad business, undertaken without any attention to editorial development, to the ideas and engagement a magazine such as Publishers Weekly needs.”

In a statement to the New York Times, Nelson herself kept it elegantly simple: “I feel like it was a great run and I am very proud of the changes that my staff and I have made. I am sorry that the magazine and I are parting ways.”

• In an update, former PW editor John Mutter reports on Shelf Awareness that other staffers who were let go include long-time executive editor Daisy Maryles, bookselling editor Kevin Howell, children’s reviews editor Elizabeth Devereaux and director of business development Rachel Dicker. Plus, says Mutter, “We also hear that Críticas, which reported on the U.S. Spanish-language market for the past eight years, is being shut down and senior editor Aída Bardales has been laid off.”

Dennis Johnson is the founder of MobyLives, and the co-founder and co-publisher of Melville House.