Independent Publishers Group Reviews

- There is a serious lack of diversity within the office, and a culture of racism is spreading. The DC employees, many of whom are Black or Latinx, work harder than anyone else, yet rarely receive the recognition they deserve, and are separated from participating in the company culture. BIPOC employees have faced harassment to the point where they feel unsafe and ultimately leave the company (eg. supervisors using racial slurs without consequences and blatant tokenism) . On top of all of that, IPG openly aligns itself with ultra-conservative publishers that produce anti-Semitic, anti-Black, and anti-women books. When you work with the publisher that literally published "If I Did It" by OJ Simpson, it's time to reevaluate your business. - On the topic of race, Chicago Review Press needs cultural sensitivity training. It constantly publishes books on Black history and culture written by predominantly white men. The literary blackface is real and does not go unnoticed. If you want to call yourself a social justice-oriented publisher, learn how to be a proper ally first. - As a whole, Chicago Review Press is a mess. The leadership doesn't lead and the acquisitions are so out of touch with the industry, yet any concerns by employees are dismissed, questioned, or ignored. Despite protestations from employees who know these books will be problematic or won't sell, CRP continues to print titles with poor covers, no selling-points, and unvetted authors. - Women are treated unequal to their male colleagues, despite making up the majority of the company. They face daily sexual harassment (by repeat-abusers who for some reason, continue to remain employed), lower pay for equal work, and a lack of upward mobility in their positions. Women make up a majority of the company, and yet the handful of men regularly speak over the women, dismiss their opinions, and haves even yelled at them during meetings for not doing their jobs to the satisfaction of the men who don't even work in the same departments. When the company restructured a few years ago, IPG deliberately promoted several women to managerial roles in an attempt to be seen as gender-inclusive, yet provided them with poor pay, no resources, and ultimately hired men to supervise above them. - Even for publishing, the pay is despicable. This is a major metropolitan city and yet many of your employees can barely afford to pay rent each month. Just because you offer benefits doesn't mean you can skimp on paying a livable wage. There is no excuse for the abysmal salaries. - Despite all the complaints, employees continue to feel dismissed and disrespected. I spent years having my spirit broken and my self-worth destroyed. It is clear that the younger voices in the company are not taken seriously despite having their fingers on the pulse of a changing time and industry. If IPG wants to survive, it must adapt sooner rather than later.

IPG has a lot of talented people, but they’re stymied by how poorly the company is run. Most of the big decisions are made by a group of mediocre white men who have risen to the top without any demonstrated talent other than going along with the fiction that the CEO is a good leader. The CEO inherited the company from his father and has no business leading an organization. He’s not aware that he’s not very smart because he’s never had to earn anything on merit. He doesn’t care about books or the publishing industry, it’s just the company his dad happened to give him, and his disinterest in the actual work of the company is obvious. He has what he thinks is a hilarious “bad habit” of acquiring new companies every year or so. The existing staff is expected to absorb these companies and all the added work without ever being given additional staff, resources, or the proper tools. Most employees work on laptops that barely function, using company-mandated software that crashes daily. Investing in things like functional technology, professional development, employee salaries, or anything else that would improve retention are clearly not a priority to the leadership, so turnover is always high, but especially in the last few years, when people haven’t been able to offset the bad working conditions with in-office camaraderie. The c-suite frequently complains about millennials and Gen Z not being willing to go the extra mile and find “creative solutions,” when the fact is that people who are chronically underpaid, promised promotions year after year that they never receive, and forced to follow the whims of a man-child have absolutely no motivation or reason to do more than the bare minimum. The CEO was enthusiastic about creating a DEI committee in 2020, when he thought that’s what all the cool CEOs were doing. But once that committee started to examine the partnerships and practices that IPG conducts, and he realized that an actual commitment to DEI would force him to take action—notably by ceasing to distribute books that openly incite violence towards minorities, women, and the LGBTQ+ community—he took away the DEI committee’s responsibilities and never took any action. When he found out that a group of employees were communicating privately about how to protest this inaction, he fired the organizer immediately. Sexual harassment is common, and a great way to bond with the boss. The CEO and CFO used to drink at a bar across the street from the office every day, where they’d frequently discuss which of the female employees they were attracted to. So the female staff have that to deal with, besides the fact that women are generally not listened to or valued. If you’re a boring man of average intelligence, this is the company for you. Everyone else should look elsewhere.