HOLD ON TIGHT

HE SAID, MARIE, MARIE, HOLD ON TIGHT And when we were children, staying at the archduke's, My cousin's, he took me out on a sled, And I was frightened. He said, Marie, Marie, hold on tight. And down we went. In the mountains, there you feel free. I read, much of the night, and go south in the winter. ~ The Waste Land, "The Burial of The Dead", Eliot Thursday, December 04, 2008 sick to the core i actually really terrified hmh is going to bought up by one of the big four. talked to e, who said it is depressing and taxing in the office. i need to call to confirm again the internship in jan, despite having more or less confirmed it over the phone a couple of days back, but i am terrified that the person i confirmed it with has been fired. this is not a paranoid thing to say. before summer, i was overjoyed when someone from s called me. but a few days later, the recruiter who gave me the greenlight for the 3rd round of interviews was fired, and i was left with a much harsher recruiter (the hr director). so it was a wasted trip to new york. now i am sick, in self-imposed isolation (can't talk without getting into a coughing fit) i can't even talk to justin on the phone ("can we text? i have no voice"). my mother is asking why am i not staying in singapore longer. i want to tell her, because i am a fool. NEW YORK – More bad news from the book industry: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt announced that it is "streamlining" its educational business, and eliminating jobs in both its education and general divisions. HarperCollins and Pearson, parent company of Penguin Group (USA), are freezing wages and considering layoffs. "This is the most challenging economic environment that any of us has ever experienced," Penguin Group chairman John Makinson wrote in a company memo that circulated Thursday, in which he announced that raises worldwide would be held off for Pearson employees making $50,000 or more and said he could not promise there would be no job losses in 2009. "In this financial climate that would be plain foolhardy," he said. This week alone, Random House Inc. announced a massive consolidation that will likely result in layoffs, Simon & Schuster cut 35 jobs and Thomas Nelson Publishers fired 54 workers. A top executive at Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, Becky Saletan, quit in apparent protest of a hold-down on acquiring new books. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, one of the world's leading education publishers and home to such authors as Philip Roth and Jonathan Safran Foer, announced Thursday that it would combine "various of its businesses into a new K-12 organization comprised of School Publishers, Holt McDougal" and others. "The streamlining of the business will result in the elimination of some positions, even as new roles are created that will let the company serve educators and students in new and unique ways," according to Thursday's statement. "These actions are consistent with those occurring within other companies across a full spectrum of businesses, and include the reduction of some positions in the company's Trade and Reference and Riverside Publishing divisions." Houghton did not immediately say how many jobs were affected, or which employees would be be involved. "The company is proceeding carefully and thoughtfully to assure that it is making the best, most productive use of its resources," the publisher said in a statement. "Overall, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt anticipates that the changes being announced will better position the company to realize its long-term strategic objectives while taking into account the current economic environment." Caught in a credit vise related to the 2007 merger of Houghton Mifflin and Harcourt, the publisher has denied rumors that it's up for sale, but has not ruled out potential offers. At HarperCollins, whose authors include Oprah Winfrey, Wally Lamb and David Wroblewski, spokeswoman Erin Crum said that pay raises had been delayed until next July and that "no decisions had been made" on job cuts. "We're doing everything we can to manage in this tough environment," she said. posted by dawn # 10:13 PM Comments: i love safran foer. # posted by Anonymous : 2:13 AM Post a Comment << Home		[publishing] Publishers Weekly . Dystel & Goderich . New York Center for Independent Publishing . Association of American University Presses . Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators [people] clarisse . nurul . aunty zarina (ummi's bakery) . jeremy . pak . cyril . softblow . karen & kenny (booksactually) . eric . joel . [other loves] digitaljournalist . ballet dictionary . poetshouse . urbanwordnyc [me] dawn, singapore, new york city, ithaca. [yesterday] wedding glassware am lit break my hea-a-a-a-a-ar-t, break my heart Comus, 1787 on the verge of a trembling walking with grace little moment fannie and freddie ithaca consumed by the details of my life now. it mostly ... 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HE SAID, MARIE, MARIE, HOLD ON TIGHT

And when we were children, staying at the archduke's,
My cousin's, he took me out on a sled,
And I was frightened. He said, Marie,
Marie, hold on tight. And down we went.
In the mountains, there you feel free.
I read, much of the night, and go south in the winter.

~ The Waste Land, "The Burial of The Dead", Eliot

Thursday, December 04, 2008

sick to the core

i actually really terrified hmh is going to bought up by one of the big four. talked to e, who said it is depressing and taxing in the office. i need to call to confirm again the internship in jan, despite having more or less confirmed it over the phone a couple of days back, but i am terrified that the person i confirmed it with has been fired. this is not a paranoid thing to say. before summer, i was overjoyed when someone from s called me. but a few days later, the recruiter who gave me the greenlight for the 3rd round of interviews was fired, and i was left with a much harsher recruiter (the hr director). so it was a wasted trip to new york. now i am sick, in self-imposed isolation (can't talk without getting into a coughing fit) i can't even talk to justin on the phone ("can we text? i have no voice"). my mother is asking why am i not staying in singapore longer. i want to tell her, because i am a fool.

NEW YORK – More bad news from the book industry: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt announced that it is "streamlining" its educational business, and eliminating jobs in both its education and general divisions. HarperCollins and Pearson, parent company of Penguin Group (USA), are freezing wages and considering layoffs.

"This is the most challenging economic environment that any of us has ever experienced," Penguin Group chairman John Makinson wrote in a company memo that circulated Thursday, in which he announced that raises worldwide would be held off for Pearson employees making $50,000 or more and said he could not promise there would be no job losses in 2009.

"In this financial climate that would be plain foolhardy," he said.

This week alone, Random House Inc. announced a massive consolidation that will likely result in layoffs, Simon & Schuster cut 35 jobs and Thomas Nelson Publishers fired 54 workers. A top executive at Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, Becky Saletan, quit in apparent protest of a hold-down on acquiring new books.

Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, one of the world's leading education publishers and home to such authors as Philip Roth and Jonathan Safran Foer, announced Thursday that it would combine "various of its businesses into a new K-12 organization comprised of School Publishers, Holt McDougal" and others.

"The streamlining of the business will result in the elimination of some positions, even as new roles are created that will let the company serve educators and students in new and unique ways," according to Thursday's statement.

"These actions are consistent with those occurring within other companies across a full spectrum of businesses, and include the reduction of some positions in the company's Trade and Reference and Riverside Publishing divisions."

Houghton did not immediately say how many jobs were affected, or which employees would be be involved.

"The company is proceeding carefully and thoughtfully to assure that it is making the best, most productive use of its resources," the publisher said in a statement. "Overall, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt anticipates that the changes being announced will better position the company to realize its long-term strategic objectives while taking into account the current economic environment."

Caught in a credit vise related to the 2007 merger of Houghton Mifflin and Harcourt, the publisher has denied rumors that it's up for sale, but has not ruled out potential offers.

At HarperCollins, whose authors include Oprah Winfrey, Wally Lamb and David Wroblewski, spokeswoman Erin Crum said that pay raises had been delayed until next July and that "no decisions had been made" on job cuts.

"We're doing everything we can to manage in this tough environment," she said.

posted by dawn # 10:13 PM

Comments:

i love safran foer.

# posted by

Anonymous : 2:13 AM