Friday, August 15, 2008

Laurence Shatkin Serves Money for Breakfast

JIST editor and author Laurence Shatkin officially became a media darling this morning with his appearance on Fox Business News' "Money for Breakfast" program. (Watch the video here--search for the segment called "Recession-Proof Jobs.")

His appearance was in support of his upcoming book, 150 Best Recession-Proof Jobs, which will be in our warehouse at the end of September. Discussion centered on tech and health care jobs, which seem to be the safe haven of the foreseeable future.

So, Laurence, any advice for recession-proofing a publishing career? :)

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

The publishing industry as a whole is more recession-sensitive than many other industries. I keep hearing about how libraries this year are issuing a surge of library cards as people discover they have a no-cost alternative to Borders and Amazon.com.

But my advice to anyone in a recession-sensitive occupation or industry (besides generic reminders to be productive and visible) is to seek a niche that defies the trends. With publishers, you'd want to think in terms of books that help people cope with hard times. Therefore, I think it's likely that publishers specializing in job-finding and educational choice will fare better than most during recessions. This is probably also true for publishers specializing in how-to-do-it-yourself books, as people strapped for cash are more likely to seek ways to avoid calling the plumber or car mechanic. A third category might be publishers of inspirational or fantasy books that lift people out of their depressing realities.

I don't have any statistics to back up these surmises, but they seem plausible.