The Publishing Industry Is Dying,
(but we might have a chance yet.)
Monopolizing, eliminating competition, elitism, and style over substance.
The Big Five ( Hachette Book Group, HarperCollins Publishers, Macmillan Publishers, Penguin Random House, and Simon & Schuster) have wielded power over writers for decades, but if we can say at least one positive thing about Amazon or the Federal courts in the current state of their compromised reputation — the days of the overlords accepting a measly 1% of the submitted manuscripts, often based not on talent but the marketability of the book and the social status of the writer in question, might be at an end.
Yes, the Associated Press reported on November 1st, 2022 that a federal judge foiled the plans to squash even the last shred of diversity in traditional publishing by blocking the merger of Penguin Random House and Simon & Schuester.
It was a big win for indie publishers, small traditional presses, hybrid publishers, and any up-and-coming writer who cannot get signed with an agent or a publisher because the number of likes on their Insta posts is insufficient to generate sales.
I mean, who wants to publish people who can write? That is so 1970s. Let’s instead give all the royalties, advances, and deserved support a writer needs to publish to established names, entrepreneurs who write self-help books about how to sell self-help books, or … Actually, that’s it.
If you push people into a corner, they will fight back. And since authors are known for their creativity, the number of different paths they have come up with to beat the corporate overlords is impressive, if not brilliant. And sure, the fact that middle management on the ladder of a totalitarian regime like Barnes & Noble and Waterstone have stood both in solidarity and in action next to them is encouraging as they stopped selling shelf space solely to the Big Five authors and gave more power to regional managers rather than the man at the top, the books of indie authors and banned books surfaced in the bookstores and saved their sales. Did they do it as a knee-jerk response to Amazon crushing them into the ground during the pandemic?
Yes. Did it limit the social impact, rendering it irrelevant? Absolutely not. They have exposed what happens when the little guy’s and the big guy’s interests align — everybody wins.
Except for those who insist on absolute control of the publishing industry. Good thing Stephen King pulled out that one good 1987 suit from his closet and testified in favor of the little guy.
