Does Chronicle Books pay their employees well?

According to anonymously submitted Glassdoor reviews, Chronicle Books employees rate their compensation and benefits as 2.9 out of 5. Find out more about salaries and benefits at Chronicle Books. This rating has been stable over the past 12 months.

How satisfied are employees working at Chronicle Books?

67% of Chronicle Books employees would recommend working there to a friend based on Glassdoor reviews . Employees also rated Chronicle Books 4.0 out of 5 for work life balance, 3.9 for culture and values and 3.1 for career opportunities.

What are the top reviewed jobs at Chronicle Books?

Designer (5) , Sales Assistant (5) , Sales Manager (4) , Assistant Editor (2) , Editorial Assistant (2) , Fellow (2) , Manager (2) , Project Manager (2) , Publicist (2) , Sales (2)

What are the pros of working at Chronicle Books according to real employee reviews?

"Great Books and People." ((in 22 reviews)); "Fun Culture" ((in 6 reviews)); "Good work/life balance if you prioritize it yourself." ((in 5 reviews)); "Great Coworkers" ((in 3 reviews)); "Great company culture" ((in 3 reviews))

What are the cons of working at Chronicle Books according to real employee reviews?

"The pay is low (here and across the publishing industry) and they are super slow to promote." ((in 15 reviews)); "Also, salaries are on the low end, especially considering San Francisco/East Bay prices, but benefits are good." ((in 5 reviews)); "bad management is rife and never addressed" ((in 4 reviews)); "Management is completely horrible and does not understand marketing or leadership in any way." ((in 2 reviews))

What are employees saying about Chronicle Books layoffs in 2026?

Explore Glassdoor’s employee reviews to understand what current and former employees are saying about Chronicle Books layoffs and their outlook for job security at Chronicle Books in 2026.

What are the top reviewed Chronicle Books locations?

San Francisco , New York , Chicago , Los Angeles , San Diego , Oakland , Redwood City , South San Francisco , Lindenwold

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Chronicle Books

Chronicle Books reviews

3.7

67% would recommend to a friend

(75 total reviews)

Nion McEvoy

98% approve of CEO

61% positive business outlook

Ratings by category

4.0

Work/Life balance

3.9

Culture & values

3.2

Senior management

3.1

Career opportunities

2.9

Compensation and benefits

2.8

Diversity & inclusion

Chronicle Books has an employee rating of 3.7 out of 5 stars, based on 75 company reviews on Glassdoor which indicates that most employees have a good working experience there. The Chronicle Books employee rating is in line with the average (within 1 standard deviation) for employers within the Media & Communication industry (3.7 stars).

Ratings by demographic groups

Race / Ethnicity

Gender

Sexual orientation

Disability

Parent or family caregiver

Veteran status

Reviews by job title

75 reviews

5.0

Aug 28, 2019

Company culture is great, job is challenging, and location is prime.

Sales manager

Recommend

CEO approval

Business Outlook

Pros

I love working with a diverse team of individuals with loads of experience to draw and grow from.

Cons

There's a lot of emails -- things could be settled faster in-person.

Chronicle Books Response

Thanks for the great feedback. We agree that our "brown bag" meetings are valuable and give more people across the company an opportunity to talk about what their working on. Groups like Chronicle Connects and the Diversity and Inclusion Group are working hard to recruit presenters from inside and outside the company. Stay tuned!

4.0

May 3, 2019

Fun place to work

Anonymous employee

Recommend

CEO approval

Business Outlook

Pros

Very talented employees, beautiful building, fun titles to work on Environment is very collaborative and everyone’s opinion is welcome & respected Management recognizes salaries are low so they find other ways to reward employees Work/life balance was very manageable

Cons

There wasn’t a lot of room for growth for me. I was hired at a lower job title than I held previously, stayed for 2.5 years and my manager said I wouldn’t have gotten promoted for at least another year even though I overperformed every review cycle. That was disheartening. It seems like Management wants to really prolong promotions to incentivize you to stay & that doesn’t really work for millennials. I understand that publishing pays low as an industry but some of the salaries are embarrassing. I had friends getting paid 2x and even 5x what I got paid.

4.0

May 2, 2019

Great first job opportunity, but won't stay for long

Chronicle books

Recommend

CEO approval

Business Outlook

Pros

Working there after graduation was a great opportunity to learn more about publishing and how things work in the real world. Also have a great working environment with balanced work culture.

Cons

However, there's little growth opportunity for this role, and the low wages makes it difficult to live in the city.

Viewing 55 - 57 of 75 Reviews

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Jobs at Chronicle Books