By Employee

The company cannot pay its suppliers and authors. Every day is a new decision and a new strategy - people are getting fed up. More consultants please! Who needs employees?!
Comment edited, 6th May

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By ex-employee

couldn't agree more! Glad I escaped before the lunacy started and there were only financial problems to contend with. I'm sure that employees would have been necessary if they could print some books but you'll all be getting them ready to go to print, have about a year's worth and then they won't need any of you. Chiefs or Indians? What's important - oh, it seems to be chiefs. The authors are going to be paid at the end of June - pmsl at that one!

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By Employee

Oops, my earlier comment got edited down to three lines. How can anybody dare say something bad about Tony's managers, HOW BAD! Now, we get the feeling that more people are to go - in sales, all marketing, production. Somebody mentioned that Sales and distribution are definitely going to be outsourced. Then again, Mr Morris changes his mind every 5 minutes.

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By Current employee

I'm not a manager, I'm a worker; I'd just like to ask all the old hands what they think they're doing? Were the people you worked with not your friends? Do you have so little respect for former colleagues that you'd like to see them go out of work, just to be able to say 'I told you so'? Your sneering, heckling commentary is repulsive. If you've left, and you're glad to have left then you have nothing to gain from this; but there are people you knew, still know, working damn hard to get things back on track. Each and every one of you should be ashamed of yourselves for the way you are behaving. Get a life.

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By Dead wood

Current employee - sorry to have offended your feelings - I wonder why you're working so hard when the level of managemenet above you in Editorial is so innefectual - too busy playing with teddy bears, talking about weddings, reading the Daily Mirror, playing football, not knowing about publishing or business to be able to manage the company properly. I could go on... Frankly, THP is a business in decline, where the ultimate bosses are more worried about how to pay the bills than creating a list of worthwhile books, too busy selling everything off at a knockdown price to add value to the business, too busy making panic-led reactive decisions about people's lives, too busy to care about the authors they have steadfastly refused to pay, too busy making new tiers of management who don't produce anything. Oh, when was the last time you saw a large pile of new titles from a book printer - what about the almost 200 titles on the print buyer's desk? Are they ever going to print? Your bosses consider that whole level of innefectual management as the core of the business, the most important people there - well, quite frankly, the most important people are the ones who make something - ie editorial. Remember how Mr Morris told everyone in September and October that the company was going to be editorial-led - that was another meaningless sound bite meant to appease editorial and make them work harder for his six figure salary, and where did it get everyone - I'll tell you where... a month and a bit of being scared for your job and then redundancy if you were lucky.

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By Employee

HISTORY PEST, I am looking for a position elsewhere - it would be stupid of me not to. And, quite honestly I think I had a "middle management overdose". It is the sheer number of them - 15 or so. Alas, that is not likely to happen. I am sure Tony's managers will still have there "meetings" when everyone else is gone.
Comment edited, 7th May

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By an ex

Employee, so what hope have they of understanding systems, or even people, if their day to days jobs previously did not involve dealing with people. Some of us have done all this and run a company too. There is a wealth of experience in THP.
Comment edited, 7th May

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By Girlfriend of History Press employee

The History Press has invaded our house. It's affecting everything we do – planning holidays (will we have the money if they go down the pan?), my b/friend's despair at having made a success of his own job only to be dragged down by the management, we discuss work far more than we used to. I am quite sick of it!

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By Employee

Philip, We understand that there will be complaints from THP management. Of course, no one is happy when they are being exposed, but the facts speak for themselves. If the company is going downhill, suppliers and authors need to know, otherwise they stand to lose money again. If THP is in brilliant financial condition - ask Mr Morris to make a statement, but this time ask him to prove it. We have not seen any team results whatsoever. We don't know what the company is making or losing. All we know is that there is no cash - it is not a guesswork, it is the number of calls by angry authors and suppliers. I can see the day when people will start coming to our offices. Somebody in our sales team told me that they have already received phone threats. Do you think this is a sign of a company doing GREAT?

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By senility strikes....

...or the mysterious story of the missing comments. Why do the comments disappear off here faster than a director of THP when pressed about royalty payments?
As mentioned, see above and below, I am deleting, not editing, anonymous comments that contravene The Bookseller's Comments Policy.
Philip Jones

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By THE HISTORY STRESS

Employees at THP should better read the recent industry news - sales reps at A&C Black / Bloomsbury are being sacked as we speak, Bertrams are closing down their distribution - no small publishers will be allowed to go to them direct. How on earth do THP believe they will survive when even big publishers are making severe cuts in the hope that Bertrams and Waterstones won't close the doors completely?

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By Judgement D

I think we are approaching the day when Morris & Managers (M&Ms) will appear covered in "glory" - or perhaps in a more tangible dark substance of unpleasant odour. Let's wait and judge!

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