From Skyhorse PublishingEmployee(Past Employee - 2,015)‐ Rating 1 out of 5— 2 of 2 found this helpful — Wed, 13 Jan 2016
Pros
Pro? What's a pro? I guess I made a friend or two.
Cons
Let's get real. Many of the positive reviews on here warn readers to take all the negativity on here with a grain of salt because people who post on here probably had a bone to pick and needed to vent. And I don't disagree. But if management didn't give employees something to complain about they wouldn't need to come here and vent in the first place. News flash: people complain when you give them something to complain about.
The fact of the matter is that this company publishes way too many books. 500 books a season? Big imprints at large big 5 houses don't do nearly that many in a year! This is not something to pride yourself on because any good editor who cares about his or her work knows that creating a quality book requires meticulous attention and dedication. It also takes time, something you do not have when you're swamped with 40 or 50 books assigned to you by the publisher. Many of the books that end up here are rejects from big 5 houses, simply because the publisher refuses to go over the laughable advance of $1500 for books that actually have potential and already have an established following in the marketplace. Instead, he throws large sums of money on super, super niche books about government conspiracies and anti-vaccine that no one reads. They boast having a diverse list. When you publish over 1000 books a year, there's bond to be some variety, but there is an incessant number of conspiracy and anti vaccine books that just don't appeal to the general market. The quality on many of the books are also super low quality. I'm actually embarrassed to tell people I worked on many of the books I did. When you have that many books, it's impossible to dedicate time to each book and make sure it is in the best shape it can be.
Long story short, you'll probably learn a lot and be forced to swim pretty quickly. There definitely is a sink or swim mentality but even if you're swimming during your first few months, you'll ultimately lose your breath from swimming to far out and drawn right in the middle of the lake. Unless you're super excited by niche conspiracy books, stay far away, because you'll sink faster than the Titanic did after that iceberg hit.
Advice to Senior Management
Gosh, I don't know publish less books? And actually do some research on what is actually trending in the industry right now and spend more money on those?