Feb. Meet-up, Part II: The Weakest (and Strongest) Links

continued from Feb 4....

The second round-robin question at Monday's meetup was posed by Karina: What are the strongest and weakest sectors of the publishing industry, and what specific departments are the safest and most vulnerable?

In terms of strong markets, everyone had their own opinions. “Editorial,” said Ken, “because in the end, no one can do anything without editors.”

“Books are safer,” said Tony, “because they’re less subject to commotion and revolution.”

“Sales seems to be the most safe,” said Sarah, adding that if you bring in the money, they’ll keep you on the team.

When it came to naming the weakest, most vulnerable positions in publishing, there was one lamenting refrain: “my position.” Multiple people around the table, from editors to proofers, had lost their jobs in recent months. Ira Dittersdorf recounted how McGraw-Hill recently made major cutbacks to copyediting and proofing departments, leaving editors of educational textbooks to do their own proofreading. Others have less specific, more blanket cuts across their sector, with even top execs getting the axe.

When it comes to making your position a strong, indispensable one, “it comes down to the individual,” said Joanne. “What do you bring to the table?”

And, hard though it is to hear, editing alone isn’t enough anymore. “I can make a web site and not hire a single editor,” said Sarah.

My own two cents – that scientific, technical and medical (STM) trade pubs do well in a down economy – was echoed by Stephanie. But what if you don’t want to go the STM route? If you want to stay in a sector of publishing that is taking hits like a freshman in glee club, you are going to have to look long and hard at staying professionally relevant. SEO? XML? CMS? If your boss asks about it, you’re going to need to know about it. Scratch that, you can’t just know about it, you have to know how to USE the information to take your publication to the next level.

So what’s the best way to stay ahead of this curve? We’ll have to leave that for another meetup.