Survey Results: Non-Work-Related Reading

As we noted in our original article, a lot of publishing people don't have as much time as they'd like to read for fun because they're too busy reading for work. "The work day never ends--'so much to read' is a blessing and a curse," wrote one agent, while an editor described her heavy reading load as "too much of a good thing."

Still, 34.3% of respondents find the time to read one or two non-work-related books a month. Here's the rest of the breakdown:
0-1 non-work-related books: 17.4%
2-3: 22.4%
3-4: 13.1%
4-5: 3.2%
5+: 9.6%

Who are these champs who read at least 4 non-work-related books a month? Perhaps not surprisingly, 34.1% are agents and 25% are editors. They'd surely win a library summer-reading contest, if there were such a thing for adults.

Survey Results: When Is Happy Hour?

It's Friday, and it's been a hard week. If you're going to happy hour with a publishing crowd after work today, expect lots of people to order red wine--the drink of choice for 35.8% of respondents. 16.7% prefer white. One respondent just loves "good delicious wine." 5.3% go for vodka tonics, and 3.5% like Bud Light.

But many more do NOT like Bud Light. We're sorry we didn't give beer lovers more choices, and they called us out on it:

• "Beer that isn't Bud Light. Yeesh."
• "Any beer but Bud Light"
• "Come on folks, a publishing survey without craft beers? We're not all girls."

Sorry. We'll add microbrews to the list next year.

For now, what's your favorite happy hour spot? Let us know in the comments.

Survey Results: Salary

How much money do you make? It's a personal question, but we asked it, and most respondents answered. Here's the salary breakdown:

• 3.2% of respondents make less than $30,000.
• 24.8% make $30,000-$50,000.
• 13.9% make $50,000-$60,000.
• 7.7% make $60,000-$70,000.
• 8.3% make $70,000-$80,000.
• 11.8% make $80,000-$100,000.
• 14.7% make $100,000-$150,000.
• 8.3% make $150,000-$200,000.
• 7.4% make more than $250,000.

Publishers Weekly conducts its own salary survey every year; here are their 2008 results. hey found that the average man working in publishing made $103,822 in 2007, while the average woman made $64,742. PW notes that the highest jobs are in management, where more men work.

However, in our survey, 35.9% of the people making over $100,000 a year work in editorial.

When we asked the over $100,000 group what they should be making, 25% thought that their salary was about right. "Money is always tight, but my compensation seems fair," wrote one respondent who makes $150,000-$200,000. "It's a loaded question, but I'm well compensated by publishing standards," wrote another respondent. And an editor making between $150,000 and $200,000 thought an "aggravation bonus" was in order.

At sites like Glassdoor.com, employees can anonymously report their salaries, as well as review their companies. Here are the results for Random House, McGraw-Hill, Scholastic, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, Rodale, HarperCollins, and Wiley. The site is free, but to see the reviews or numbers, you have to (anonymously) post.

Give Me More

I've posted an expanded version of Rich Kelley's article from the October issue, "Battling the Online Tyranny of 'More,'" on our Web site. Check it out here:
http://www.publishingtrends.com/copy/08/0810/0810tyranny.html

Survey Results: How Did You Get Your Job?

Want to get into publishing? A lot of people say it's all about who you know--and the results of our survey support that belief. 35.5% of respondents heard about their current job via word of mouth. 9.6% found their position on the job board of a Web site like Publishers Marketplace, and 6% were recruited.

How did respondents hear about their first publishing job? Again, the main way is word of mouth, for 33.4%. But 18.1% of respondents got their first job through a newspaper listing. (When was the last time you saw a publishing job listed in the New York Times?)

"I sent out many letters, and a few publishers responded," an editor at a large house told us. "This was 30+ years ago!"

Several respondents also told us that they got their first publishing positions through employment agencies, like the Lynne Palmer Agency and "Career Blazers Agency." We know that the Lynne Palmer Agency still exists and are curious about whether it still works with those seeking entry-level jobs. Publishing newbies out there, did you consider a career agency when you were looking for your job And publishing vets, do you work with any career agencies or have you ever used one? Let us know in the comments.

Publishing Trends Announces Results of Second Annual Industry Survey

Wondering how much your publishing coworkers make, or how they take their coffee? We got tons of interesting answers in our second annual publishing industry survey, and couldn't fit them all into our feature article in the October issue of Publishing Trends. So we'll be posting additional results throughout this month. Stay tuned!

No Time to Read? No Problem!

Would you read them on the ferry? Would you read them on a Blackberry? As silly as it sounds, these are the types of questions that the folks behind DailyLit, Bit o’ Lit and Random House Audio’s “Make Your Commute More...” campaign have started taking very seriously. Each contender has respectively come up with some clever ways to help publishers squeeze books back into the quotidian grind. Below we save you (even more!) time by giving you the lowdown on each of their strategies...


The Practical Approach:

The Gimmick: Daily bite-sized installments of books served up straight to your virtual inbox via e-mail or RSS feed.
The Selection: Over 1000 classic and contemporary books (Titles in the public domain,plus various publishers including Berlitz, Harlequin and Chronicle Books)
Who Pays What: Public domain books are free. Copyrighted books require a small fee(on average around $5). CEO Susan Danziger told Publishing Trends that they
were exploring sponsorship as a way to defray that fee.
Extras: Reader rating system; public reading groups on Twitter; Wikipedia tours


The HyperLocal Approach:

The Gimmick: Washington, DC-based campaign to promote new books by handing out booklets of excerpts to commuters each week
The Selection: Primarily local authors, authors on tour (book events are advertised) and titles tailored to the D.C. market
Who Pays What: Free for commuters. Publishers pay advertising costs. Print and online advertising also available.
Extras: Excerpts also available online; events, feature articles and word searches featured in the back


The Marketing 101 Approach:

The Gimmick: Summertime campaign to promote audiobook listening by highlighting new titles and bestsellers that fall under one of a series of adjectives (ie thrilling,profitable, magical, entertaining, etc.). Bookstores, libraries and warehouse stores will feature posters, displays and branded (apparently pungent) air fresheners
The Selection: 64 designated Random House Audio titles (i.e. Stephanie Meyer’s Breaking Dawn as “entertaining”; Sebastian Faulks’ Devil May Care as “adventurous”)
Who Pays What: RH will focus on print media, radio sponsorship and online presence. Available at all the usual retailers
Extras: Free audio samples on www.MakeYourCommuteMore.com; the aforementioned air fresheners

UPDATE: DailyLit announced today that it launched its corporate sponsorship program by collaborating with GalleryCollection.com to make College Knowledge: 101 Tips, a college guide book, available for free.