CEO Carolyn Reidy blames the lack of a 2019 blockbuster title that could fill the big shoes of Fear by Bob Woodward—plus higher costs on book printing in China due to Trump tariffs. While it was possible for Simon & Schuster to increase retail prices in some cases to compensate for the tariffs, it couldn’t do so across the list. Children’s books and digital audio experienced growth, while adult book sales faced challenges. For 2020, Simon & Schuster has placed some of its blockbuster hopes on John Bolton’s forthcoming book, The Room Where It Happened, which has not yet cleared the national security review process.
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.
