Prentice Hall Direct has shut down the direct mail operations that marketed 100 book titles in the category of health and self-improvement.
About 20 employees, or 20% of the firm’s 100 staffers, were notified Monday that their positions would be eliminated.
The publisher cited a number of reasons for the shutdown including increased competition in the category.
“We found that the response rates in this category had declined over the last year, and that decline was certainly exacerbated by the events of Sept. 11,” Sally Wood, president of Prentice Hall Direct, said.
The titles will continue to be supported in other sales channels such as retail bookstores.
The move does not affect the firm’s other categories, which include more than 1,000 titles in business-to-business, education and general interest.
“We’re looking at all of our channels and going to assess our marketing and selling efforts accordingly for the remainder of the categories within the division,” said Wendy Spiegel, a spokesperson for Pearson, the parent of Prentice Hall Direct. “This announcement does not suggest that we’re making changes with those categories at this time.”
Prentice Hall Direct is based in Paramus, NJ.
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