From Skyhorse Publishing Assistant Editor (Past Employee - 2016) — Rating 3.0 out of 5 — Thu, 31 Mar 2016
Pros
Publishing is a competitive industry for all the wrong reasons, but what's great about Skyhorse is that it gives a voice to editors and authors who deserve a chance to make books and can't get it in a shrinking industry as the Big 5 merge. I've seen entry-level kids fresh out of college or career-changers who don't lose their wide-eyed and ambitious dreams and solid work ethic rise up fast in a way that's unusual for the industry, from what I've heard, but are givens at this company. There has been a revolving door of turnover, but there have also been some professional, quality people who have come through if you can catch them (and there is a growing interest in retention). It's suffered bumps and growing pains with rapid expansion in a fast-paced environment but appears to genuinely be interested in improving. And it is a power trip when you consider that a prolific author or slow publisher can put a couple books out a year, but at Skyhorse a small team of people can produce hundreds of books to shape culture and define shelves.
Cons
The pace is super fast and the volume is super high, and sometimes important things are lost in the hustle--from quality of content, to faithfulness to the book we set out to create, to publicity/marketing/sales support to books that deserve a bigger shot, to opportunities for learning between junior and senior staff, to meaningful communication among staff and with outside authors/freelancers. And historically compensation has been too low. I hear it's at or above industry level in some cases, but there are worthy and hard-working employees who are taken advantage of (it seems increasingly less, but still...). Morale can be low in a hectic office where a few tempers and miscommunications can do a world of harm to the value and mental health of employees. And it's getting better, but people tend to have poor work-life balance.
Advice to Senior Management
Attract and retain more passionate, smart, and ambitious employees, and continue to work on building a sense of team. Reward good work from junior members, and continue mentoring programs. It's great you're trying to address the legitimate complaints people have made in person and in the shadows, but it's going to be a nonstop process to improve the reputation enough to have it be a self-sustaining equilibrium of good office morale and quality talent.