Big Five US publisher Macmillan abruptly announced that CEO John Sargent is leaving on Jan. 1, 2021, due to disagreements regarding the direction of the company. He has been with the company since 1996.
In June, after the Black Lives Matter protests and calls for change within the publishing industry, Macmillan created a 13-person management committee to run the company. Sargent was not appointed to that committee and, at the time, said he would step back from day-to-day management. Note that Macmillan is the publisher of American Dirt, which stirred controversy when it launched in January 2020 yet has still become one of the bestselling novels of the year. The company also established and defended a library ebook embargo in 2019, which was lifted once the pandemic hit. The New York Times recaps Sargent’s tenure at Macmillan and the recent turmoil.
Meanwhile, Macmillan announced it will raise its entry-level salary in the US to $42,000; any current employees below that amount will get a raise. The move is part of the company’s diversity and inclusion initiatives. Michael Cader at Publishers Lunch reports that—until Macmillan’s change—Penguin Random House had offered the highest entry-level salary of the Big Five, at $40,000 a year (subscription required).
Jane Friedman has spent her entire career working in the publishing industry, with a focus on business reporting and author education. Established in 2015, her newsletter The Bottom Line provides nuanced market intelligence to thousands of authors and industry professionals; in 2023, she was named Publishing Commentator of the Year by Digital Book World.
Jane’s expertise regularly features in major media outlets such as The New York Times, The Atlantic, NPR, The Today Show, Wired, The Guardian, Fox News, and BBC. Her book, The Business of Being a Writer, Second Edition (The University of Chicago Press), is used as a classroom text by many writing and publishing degree programs. She reaches thousands through speaking engagements and workshops at diverse venues worldwide, including NYU’s Advanced Publishing Institute, Frankfurt Book Fair, and numerous MFA programs.
