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Penguin Random House Merger

Announced today, two major traditional publishers will be merging: Penguin and Random House. The merger will create a new world superpower in the publishing industry.

 

Read some articles:

So what does this mean to you, as an indie author?

In the beginning, not much. The merge has been on the tables since October 2012. And for the first months of the new imprint, the new company will be focusing on the internal shakeups that come from any huge business change.

But after that?

After reading the articles that have appeared in world-wide press regarding the merge, I get the feeling that the end game is to have a publishing house that’s large enough to take Amazon on head-to-head. The real question is: will it happen? After all, traditional publishing can only publish so many books a year, no matter how brilliant they are. Amazon will publish any author.

The biggest advantage to publishing with traditional houses is that you have access to all their years of publishing expertise and marketing clout. Every book gets edited. Not every book or every author gets a book tour so no matter who publishes your book or how you’re publishing, a lot of the marketing burden falls back onto the author’s shoulders.

And from the article in the New York Times, “But authors and agents also quietly voiced concern that there would be fewer major publishing houses competing for their work.”

Seems to me that the book publishing world is scrambling for the best way to serve their readers and authors. And authors will be asking the tough question to any publishing house: What will you do for me?

While Amazon.com offers no amenities to its publishing by way of editing, marketing, or formatting, authors know exactly what it takes to make it in the Amazon publishing universe: a great story and a lot of hard work.

Kim Galloway
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