The Penguin Random House & Simon & Schuster Merger
What You Need To Know
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Stephen King as a star witness in court for the government? A possible attack on competition and diversity in the publishing industry? Every author’s worst nightmare? What will come out of two members of “The Big 5” merging into one?
There are a lot of headlines flying about the $2.2B proposed Penguin Random House and Simon & Schuster merger. Penguin Random House and Simon & Schuster are both in “The Big 5,” the five most prestigious (and profitable) publishing houses.
Because of the implications that this could have on the Publishing economy, the government of The United States has filed an antitrust suit to stop the merger from being completed. The oral arguments for the antitrust trial ended on August 22nd of this year and a decision will be coming out sometime this fall.
While nothing is confirmed and no one can tell the future, the publishing industry might be days away from some major industry-wide shifts and we’re going to go over the biggest of them in this article.
Diversity & Inclusion
Lee & Low, a famed children’s book publisher, put out a study in 2020 that found 3/4 of people that work in the publishing industry identify as white (NPR).
The readers are served by a maximum diversity of authors and voices, especially authors from overlooked communities. These are authors who don’t make a lot of money but who have very important things to say. (Douglas Preston, Author’s Guild president)
There’s a possibility that this merger could mute the voices of marginalized communities, which as we know, is a huge step back for society as a whole. Readers need representation and minority voices to be heard.
On top of that, there’s a great chance more and more books will start to look and sound the same, or, even more than they’ve already started to. Publishing houses give a general idea of what they’re looking for/writers they have niches for. With this merger, there’s a good chance that the odds of a unique or non-trendy book making it through the publishing process will be reduced.
The publishing houses did have statements to make on the subject, as quoted in an interview by NPR.
A spokesperson for Penguin Random House says the company is committed to fostering diversity and will continue to invest in titles by authors who are people of color and to recruit and retain diverse editors. A Simon & Schuster spokesperson says it will continue to work towards, quote, “being a publisher whose books and staff represent the breadth and depth of our diverse population.”
Advances
The fewer publishers there are bidding against each other for an author’s work, the lower the advance. It’s Economics 101. (Douglas Peterson, president of The Author’s Guild)
Douglas Peterson, as well as the DOJ, are convinced that this merger will reduce competition (in the publishers’ favor) and therefore reduce bargaining power for authors and the size of future book advances.
There have been some pretty lively debates on both sides as to whether or not authors will benefit, remain unaffected, or suffer from this merger. I’ll leave some of the more notable quotes below:
PRH & SS
…Penguin Random House and Simon & Schuster both argued that the merger wouldn’t lead to any change in competition. Because of publishing’s imprint model, editors who work at the same publishing house bid against one another for the same book all the time. (Vox)
…Penguin Random House has said that, actually, the merger would increase author advances, and some industry insiders don’t consider the potential union of two of the five biggest publishing houses in the country a threat to a robust sector that puts out a million titles a year. (NPR)
DOJ
Just this past July, President Joe Biden signed an executive order promising to use antitrust laws to combat “the harmful effects of monopoly and monopsony,” noting that his administration would be “especially” focused on the way these issues affect labor markets. (Vox)
While I can’t say I’m an expert, I would absolutely bet my money that the major publishing conglomerate will save all they can as far as advances go. This may not be an overwhelming negative thing seeing as how books that tank won’t leave as much of a scar on your career. However, this will make having “Author” as your solo job title a much harder feat.
Power
Penguin Random House’s proposed acquisition of Simon & Schuster would result in substantial harm to authors, particularly authors of anticipated top-selling books. (The DOJ’s Antitrust Suit)
Aside from authors having less bargaining power when it comes to advances, creative control, and meaningful say over edits, smaller publishing houses will also face a struggle when it comes to breaking the ranks of “The Big 5.”
…as DOJ attorney John Read repeatedly emphasized, no new publisher has been able to successfully break into the ranks of the Big Five in over 30 years. The big publishers are now so big, with such extensive backlists and such deep pockets, that it’s nearly impossible to compete with them at scale. Regardless of their claims, they wield enormous power in the industry.
What Do You Think
I’m sure many of us on Medium are authors or aspiring authors. As an affected community, how do you feel about all of this? Does this scare you away from publishing in the future or are you hopeful?
Stay tuned for news on the court ruling! Follow me on twitter or join my mailing list for updates!
