While the publishing world is slowly returning to normal after two days of closures and skeleton crews, some are still reeling from Hurricane Sandy.
Starting Sunday, virtually the only people in the Hudson Street offices of book publisher Penguin were CEO John Makinson and those hammering out the language on the pact announcing the merger with Bertelsmann’s Random House.
The press releases went out pre-dawn around 3:32 a.m. Monday, when the offices would normally be empty. The offices will be closed through today, and the rest of the week is unclear.
“We’re playing it by ear,” said a rep for Penguin.
David Pecker, CEO of American Media, publisher of the National Enquire and Star, on 4 New York Plaza, said they moved up deadlines so magazines would hit the streets early.
A spokesman for Hearst, which publishes daily papers from San Francisco to Albany, as well as monthly magazines such as Cosmopolitan and Esquire, said that the Hearst HQ tower on West 58th Street and Eighth Avenue remained open the last two days, but with no mass transit many people could not work.
Condé Nast over on 4 Times Square was closed the last two days. CEO Chuck Townsend sent an e-mail saying the offices will be open on Wednesday but emphasized “safety is #1” and urged people to make sure families were safe first.
Its new headquarters still under construction at 1 World Trade were one of the few sites in the lower third of Manhattan to remain illuminated after a Con Edison power plant on the East River shorted out.
Scholastic, the publisher of the “Harry Potter” series, was still without power on Tuesday, and there was no indication when power was going to be restored.
Time Inc. kept its Rockefeller Center offices open, but many folks worked from home. The flagship Time magazine said it was still going to make its deadline on Wednesday and expected to reach newsstands on time Friday.
Next door, McGraw-Hill closed its New York City headquarters on Monday and Tuesday.
Times’s guild trip
The New York Times and its largest union, the Newspaper Guild, have reached an agreement “in concept” on a new five-year labor pact that would preserve a company supported pension plan while other details have yet to be revealed.
The last contract expired 20 months ago. The 1,100 members of the guild were staging an increasing number of job actions — such as two short walkouts lasting 15 minutes apiece in each of the past two week that temporarily emptied out the newsroom.
In a show of solidarity, the guild rank-and-file also approved a “byline strike” for the future that would have withheld writers’ names. It distributed dummy copies of a paper, proclaiming that without writers there was no Times.
“We’re not commenting beyond confirming the agreement that has been reached ‘in concept,’ “said a Times spokeswoman.
Guild President William O’Meara was not commenting on the latest development, although there were a few tidbits on the guild’s website.
“At the request of mediator Martin Scheinman, details will not be released until language is finalized,” said the guild web site.
“The guild negotiating committee has voted to support the settlement, which preserves a defined benefit pension plan, protects the jointly trusteed medical plan, and includes increases in compensation.”
The guild said it will supply more details shortly and will schedule a ratification meeting in the near future.
“Mediation came at just the right time,” said one newspaper veteran. “Things were getting nasty.”
Papers, no paper
Newspapers appear to be making good progress on the digital frontier, according to the latest figures from the Audit Bureau of Circulations.
Digital circulation, including tablets, mobile, PDF editons, websites and e-reader editions, now accounts for 15.3 percent of all newspaper circulation — a jump from the 9.8 percent reported in the same period a year ago.
Daily circulation, which had been in a downward spiral in recent years, appears to have leveled out in the six-month period ended September, showing only a 0.2 percent decline for the 613 papers reporting. Sunday circulation was up 0.6 percent in the same six-month period.
The Wall Street Journal remained the top paper, with circulation of 2,293,798 — a 9.4 percent increase, based on 1,499,204 printed copies and 794,594 digital copies.
USA Today was second, dropping 3.9 percent in total circulation to 1,713,833. That was split between 1,627,526 print copies and 86,307 digital copies.
The New York Times, thanks to strong growth on its website behind a pay wall, saw a 40.3 percent rise in circulation to 1,613,865, split between 717,513 printed editions and 896,352 digital editions.
Among digital editions of newspapers, The New York Post ranked third, with 178,113 digital editions on total circulation of 522,868, which was up 2.1 percent in the six-month period.