First and foremost I am incredibly fortunate that my family and home got through Sandy with little more than being inconvenienced for few days. Far too many people were dealt incredibibly difficult circumstances from Sandy with serious damage to their homes, loss of precious possessions and having their lives turned upside down by this storm. Trying to get back to the way things were will be months and years for some communities.
So while has Sandy managed to push the fever pitch of the Presidential election out of the news, news in publishing is just as seismic with the announcement of the pending merger between Random House and Penguin. Markus Dohle issued a thoughtfull and reassuring letter to booksellers, agents and authors. I took the copy from PW along with the posted comments from Robert Gotlieb at Trident & Peter Riva who is also a well known agent who have a clear contrast of opinion - it is interesting to read them together, speculating who is correct will play out for everyone in the next couple of years..
Regardless if this is good or bad for the industry, it is the reality and probably not only domino in-line as consildation in any industry comes in bunches. If anything is clear, publishing is no where near done changing. It has undergone more transition in the last 3-4 years than it has in a half century and it is probably just getting started. I know I am here to talk about BEA, but it feels too self serving if I do that now, especially in light of watching people struggle to get some normalcy back in their life after Sandy. Still it is important to know that change brings opportunity. Where Sandy brought change that is having maps re-drawn from Connecticut down to the bottom of the Jersey Shore, change is opportunity to rebuild in a way that makes sense and will survive for the new reality. The same is opportunity is here for publishing. I feel BEA is ahead of the curve for the industry with the changes we have implemented and will continue as BEA intends to remain the most important event in North America for the publishing industry.
Dohle Addresses Booksellers, Authors and
Agents About Merger
Oct 29, 2012
CEO
of Random House, Markus Dohle, has sent three letters--to booksellers, authors
and agents--addressing the momentous news about his publishing company merging
with Penguin. The letters, intended to offer elaboration on the merger, the
possibility of which sent shock waves through the industry last week, are also
intended to calm three of the house's publishing partners, who are no doubt
concerned about what the future will now hold.
In
his letter to booksellers, Dohle said the new company will be better equipped
to "deliver amazing books, innovative sales and marketing creativity, and
the best-in-class supply chain support, all of which will combine to help you
to continue to connect our authors with your readers." The CEO did not,
however, offer specifics on these things, noting instead that new company will
not actually come into being for some time. Dohle said that, for now,
"Random House and Penguin remain competitors" and, until the merger
is approved by the government, which he suspects will happen in "the
second half of 2013," it is impossible to "discuss post-closing
plans."
Addressing
authors, Dohle said one aspect of the merger he is "most excited
about" is the creation of a company that is "author-publisher-and
editor-centered--just like Random House." He added that authors will
"benefit from an extraordinary breadth of publishing choices and editorial
talents and experience," when the two biggest members of the Big Six
merge. He also assured writers that the new company will remain "endowed
withcreative autonomy, and financial resources, to decide which books to
publish, and how to publish them." Dohle also noted that Penguin Random
House will "supply more services for physical retailers, while expanding
our opportunities in the digital space."
To
agents, who have been particularly worried about the effect the merger will
have on advances, Dohle promised many of the same things as he did to authors.
He also assured agents that backlist will remain "a priority." Again,
though, the theme returned to the "breadth of publishing choices"
this new company will offer. The CEO closed by saying the goal is to
"publish the content you entrust us with for everyone, everywhere, in
every format, and on every platform."
Read
the full version of each letter below.
Dohle's
letter
to booksellers. Dohle's
letter
to agents. Dohle's
letter
to authors.
Trident does a great deal of business with
both companies. Recently S&S virtually shut down The Free Press. Bantam
Books is a shell of what it once was as Ballantine has emerged as the major
player in the Bertelsmann group. I don't see how this merger will increase the
"breadth of publishing choices"? I believe it will be just the
opposite. Mr. Dohle who I have a great deal of respect for and has done a
magnificent job at Random House says agents only have their eye on what size
advances will be. Trident is first and foremost interested in our author's
careers. We believe money follows success in the market place. The
consolidation of publishing divisions will occur in this merger. Will the
Viking Children's group remain an fully functioning operation or will their
sales force and the children's book division at Random House be merged? If not
how will they compete along side one another? Those are the kinds of serious
concerns authors and agents should have in part in connection with this size
merger. I am not only thinking of the above but about Berkley books and Ballantine
books as an example. When those sales forces are combined and there are only a
handful of slots for major authors open as lead titles what authors will
benefit and which one's will end up taking a second or third place position on
the list? Random House and Penguin really don't care about the unintended
consequences of this act but the publishing industry does. When there is a book
auction who will be favored in the new publishing giant. Will it be baby Random
or Putnam's when it comes to one on one completive submission? Right now we are
already told that if there are only two imprints inside Bertelsmann bidding
that one will drop out in favor of the other. They simply won't seriously bid
against each other. In countries like the Netherlands publishers have
understandings amongst each other that they won't bid on each other's authors
so competition is highly reduced. In Germany I have personally seen executives
at Bertelsmann call competitors and ask them not to make offers on authors they
are publishing when an agent is thinking of moving the author. The other
published agreed because of their fear of the size and strength of Bertelsmann
in Germany. None of us should be lulled into a transe over the company line
that is being told to us as one firm intends to dominate the publishing market
place.
Robert Gottlieb
Chairman
Trident Media Group, LLC.
www.tridentmediagroup.com
I have many fears here, not all of which
are within Markus's control, I fear. In Random's statement (parsed down by me):
"With our backlist always a priority, Random House expects the new company
to offer an even deeper catalogue, alongside our newly," but damn fewer,
"published titles....as we continue to transition in the digital
space." And there it is. How to tame the digital space? Become bigger
seems to be the answer. I fear like the car companies of old (UK's British
Leyland and US's GM and Chrysler and France's Renault), bigger will mean less
financially stable, less fluid, less competitive. Which leads me to his next
comment, which I doubt going forward especially for debut authors, "And we
will be even better positioned to support our authors’ intellectual property
and copyrights." This is NOT about advances for us agents, this is about
marginalizing debut authors and non-branded authors in favor of MBA type supermarket
sales and marketing efforts. Good for the investor, bad for the literary world,
I fear.And in the end bad for business. The car company example is effective, I
believe. Looks good on paper, becomes too big to fail for investors, terrible
for the consumer.
