Toxic workplace with unreasonable expectations and terrible management - Marketing Sourcebooks Employee Review

1.0
Oct 30, 2023
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Gained a lot of experience very quickly. My co-workers were all friendly, helpful , and encouraging (highlighting just how awful most of the managers were).

Cons

Extremely low pay for an unreasonable amount of work expected with irrational expectations. The company culture is extremely toxic. Most management only care about furthering their own career and readily blamed their employees for any issues. Micro-management is basically the only management style and very few are lucky to have decent managers. Career growth is saved for those who suck up to their managers and the CEO. Professional development is nonexistent. Growth-Mindset is a buzzword tossed around the company, but it's just a buzzword…management doesn’t implement or follow growth-mindset at all. The CEO is disrespectful and volatile and is known to make people cry. You definitely don’t want to disagree with her. She’ll give a great pep talk to the company as a whole then tear individuals down and belittle them over minor or perceived mistakes.

Explore other reviews about Sourcebooks

5.0
Jun 20, 2025
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Incredible managers, great team, genuine openness to growth and learning, meaningful work

Cons

None to speak of at this moment

1.0
Apr 20, 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

In hindsight, I'm not sure if there were any apart from some friendly coworkers.

Cons

I infuriatingly see promotions handed out left and right via LinkedIn, but just know that actually being someone to get to that level means literally grovelling and being lucky enough to be in the good graces of the egotistical CEO. Upper management brown-noses her as their main job, and they will prevent you from any upward mobility if you're not one of her favorites (which seems to be picked based on how much you kiss up to her, and if you keep your own opinions to yourself, and other factors entirely unrelated to your actual performance). Absolutely criminally high monthly healthcare premiums, paired with insanely high deductibles, bare-minimum PTO, and mat leave. HR is a joke and not one HR employee seems to last very long. Salaries are abysmal, even by publishing standards. Most books acquired are bottom-of-the-barrel since they don't pay most of their authors much, and they have to be edited within an inch of their lives to be readable and marketable. I left the industry after this company and have never been happier.

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