Tipsy Tuesday

According to Publisher's Weekly:

Houghton Mifflin Harcourt has asked its editors to stop buying books. Josef Blumenfeld, Vice President of Communications for HMH, confirmed that the publisher has “temporarily stopped acquiring manuscripts” across its trade and reference divisions. The directive was given verbally to a handful of executives and, according to Blumenfeld, is “not a permanent change.” Blumenfeld, who hedged on when the ban might be lifted, said that the right project could still go to the editorial review board. He also maintained that the the decision is less about taking drastic measures than conducting good business.

“In this case, it’s a symbol of doing things smarter; it’s not an indicator of the end of literature,” he said. “We have turned off the spigot, but we have a very robust pipeline.” The action by the highly leveraged HMH may also be as much about the company's need to cut costs in a tight credit market.as about the current economic slowdown.

While Blumenfeld dismissed the severity of the policy, a number of agents said they have never heard of a publisher going so far as to instruct its editors to stop acquiring. “I’ve been in the business a long time and at a couple of houses I worked at, when things were bad, we were asked to cut back,” said agent Jonathon Lazear. “But I’ve never heard of anything so public.” Lazear added that, in the past two weeks, business has been more “sluggish” than it had been all year.

Another agent who had also heard about the no-acquisitions policy at HMH called the move “very scary” and said it's indicative of an industry climate worse than any he’s ever seen.

Thus far one agent has confirmed that at least one of his manuscripts has been declined at HMH per the policy. But perhaps an editor at the house put it best; in an e-mail, the editor mentioned the policy and added, “Who knows what’s next.”

At my local RWA chapter meeting on Saturday, agent Jessica Faust of BookEnds, Inc. spoke briefly about the economy and how it may affect the publishing industry. Her take on things is that the fiction publishers she deals with right now have not announced any cutbacks in their monthly publishing slots (i.e., if they normally print 3 romances, 2 mysteries and 4 sci fi books, they're still doing that same number), but they are being more selective in what they're buying.

What does this mean for writers? That you need to write a better book than the next guy, pure and simple. And that you shouldn't give up. It can still happen for you.