The news last week that Lonely Planet would be letting 80 staff go is just the latest example of a long-term downsizing trend. There have been hundreds of jobs lost in book retailing in recent years after the failure of the RED group. With the merger of Random House and Penguin heralding the first wave of a shake-out in multinational publishing houses, the job losses are expected to continue.
Industry analysts IBISWorld recently tagged book publishing as one of the five Australian industries most likely to contract in 2013-14. According to IBISWorld’s Karen Dobie, “a structural shift in favour of online book stores is hurting domestic book publishers, with many consumers preferring to buy from foreign retailers that have exceptional bargaining power and offer fast postage and heavily discounted prices.” IBISWorld thinks the industry will shrink by 4.3 per cent.
