Sourcebooks reviews

2.1

25% would recommend to a friend

(118 total reviews)

Dominique Raccah

24% approve of CEO

34% positive business outlook

Sourcebooks has an employee rating of 2.1 out of 5 stars, based on 118 company reviews on Glassdoor which indicates that most employees have an average working experience there. The Sourcebooks employee rating is 44% below average for employers within the Media & Communication industry (3.7 stars).

Reviews by job title

118 reviews
2.0
Aug 18, 2019

A look into your future with Sourcebooks

Anonymous employee
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Great location near train and restaurants.

Cons

So here's how it'll go down. You just saw a job opening at sourcebooks. Wow, whoopie! A publishing company! You're as excited as a chubby kid eating a doughnut. You love books. In fact, you love reading so much, you daydream of one day becoming a writer. Yo, who are we kidding, you probably have the first draft of some romance-sci fi-coming of age novel on your laptop right now. Yeah, sure you have some fancy college degree and the only job opening is below your skill-set. But dude, this is your dream job! If the movie Devil Wears Prada has taught us anything, it's that hard work, and a cute outfit will move us up in the world. So what if the pay is lousy, you can defer those student loans a few more years. 1 month: This place is the greatest! You're surrounded by so many like-minded, intelligent, talented people. In an effort to look efficient, you get all your work done earlier than expected. Wow, won't your boss be impressed? Oops, you just set your bar too high. Enjoy double the workload next week.  3 months: Beep beep, what's that? It's the bus that ran you over. But why?! You did exactly what your boss asked you to. And there's the keyword, "asked." You just learned a valuable lesson. You didn't get that chitchat in writing. You see, you're still too new. You're what they call a scapegoat. But it's all cool. If you apologize enough, they won't see you as a threat. Now go cry in the bathroom, so you don't make a scene. 6 months: What's that smell coming from the kitchen? Why is it so flipping cold in here. Was the printer always that loud? Uh oh, you're starting to crack. Everything has the potential to set you off. As you struggle to have a decent work-life balance, you find yourself taking on more and more work due to the large employee overturn. But hang in there kid. A little piece of paper that says, "Thanks for all your hard work" is coming your way. Oh, did you think it was going to be a raise? It's way too soon for that you silly goose. Year 1: Congratulations, you now get to write your own yearly review, cause god forbid your mangers evaluation will be enough. So relax and take the next day or so to waste away your time to think of impressive, yet realistic, goals you will accomplish next year. But it's not all bad news; you got your annually 3% raise. But don't celebrate too hard, you still got those student loans you got to pay off. Year 2: Well, to be honest, you probably won't make it this far. But if you do, you're tougher or more pathetic than I thought. You've seen a lot of deplorable stuff at this point. You know what managers and directors you can trust and the ones to be fake too. You've mastered stroking the CEO's massive ego. You're a seasoned soldier. You now smirk at the new hires. You'd like to warn them. Maybe even guide them. But no fs are given, your soul is far too dead. You return to your work, checking your voicemail, in hopes that other company, you just interviewed for, makes you an offer today.

1.0
Nov 3, 2023

a toxic work environment

Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Fantastic co-workers, publishing industry connections

Cons

Pay far below industry standard/extreme pay disparity, antagonistic managers, resistance to promoting employees, no accountability for supervisors, poor communication, positions with the workload of 2+ people   If you believe Sourcebooks is your only option to get your foot in the door of the publishing industry, make sure to go in with your eyes open: this is a toxic work environment. The moment you start to have bad experiences like the ones listed in these reviews, prepare to get out asap.

1.0
Feb 28, 2022
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

You'll work with some passionate people, and if you leave soon enough you won't have to watch that passion and enthusiasm be sucked out of them, leaving them cold, soul-dead husks. Also apparently if you're in certain departments it seems like GlassDoor reviews may be incentivized? Hit me up, management? Where's my bonus to boost your rating?

Cons

Poor work-life balance (in some cases non-existent). Terrible management, micromanagement. Performative "benevolent upper management" moments at every company meeting where employees are reminded how grateful we should be for the pennies we're earning while upper management is hiring trophy people in marketing and sales and leaving others at the pay grade they came in at. People are pitted against each other for growth opportunities or used as leverage in each other's career trajectory. EXTREME over-management and oversight. I know people who have gotten into trouble for USING THE "WRONG" bathroom. If you try to work together with your colleagues to improve any situation, you will be discouraged from communicating as a unit and told to only send across individual thoughts. This is a way that voices were silenced in summer of 2020 when employees asked for diversity and inclusion improvements, and then we received a very performative list of "action steps" which included an email signature banner... Collaboration is only encouraged when it benefits the CEO's agenda. I could go on and on. Just don't, unless you have a quick exit plan.

Viewing 7 - 9 of 118 Reviews

Glassdoor has 130 Sourcebooks reviews submitted anonymously by Sourcebooks employees. Read employee reviews and ratings on Glassdoor to decide if Sourcebooks is right for you.