How many times have we seen this: An industry goes through a structural transformation, often as a result of disruptive technologies that cause it to lose its prior economic prominence. The next stage is that two large players in the sector decide to merge, convinced that they will somehow obtain economies of scale that will enable their future well-being. Government regulators, applying old standards of market dominance, fret but then allow the merger to proceed, for fear that the incumbents might go out of business otherwise. The merger takes place. It is only then that the world of finance discovers that the newly created company is composed of two leaky lifeboats strapped together, with no greater chance of success than the two antecedent firms.
Health care. Well, maybe. But right now I am talking about the proposed merger of Random House and Penguin. As reported in the New York Times:
A merger of Random House and Penguin could help the publishing houses cut costs by combining resources, and it would give them more heft in negotiations with Amazon and Apple as readers increasingly abandon print for cheaper e-books.
But for authors and their representatives, news of the merger discussions . . . came as another potential blow in an already challenging profession.
Several literary agents said a merger would lead to a consolidation of publishing imprints, thus reducing the number of bidders vying for titles. They also said that combining editing and marketing resources would likely lead to layoffs and potentially put added pressure on authors, especially those who do not churn out mass-market hits.
All this folderol justifying a merger and expressing concern about it overlooks what is happening in this field. Putting aside the really big authors and their agents, no one needs publishers any more. To use the technical term, publishers have now been disintermediated. Any author can self-publish a book. There are several user-friendly platforms that not only walk you through the process of publishing but also handle distribution and get you in the marketplace within hours or days of completing your book. For example, I wrote my book Goal Play! and self-published it on Createspace, an Amazon subsidiary. I had no need for an agent to find me a publisher, but I did hire an editor to help me with the book, a designer to craft the cover, and an experienced typesetter to deal with formatting issues.
But what about marketing and publicity? Again, you don't need publishers for that (not that they really help the majority of authors anyway.) Once published, I started marketing the book using my various social media platforms: This widely read blog, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn. Friends and contacts using those media helped me “go viral” by re-tweeting or sharing. Several bloggers kindly published their own reviews. Other readers posted reviews on Amazon. Several print and electronic newspapers published reviews. I began a tour with speaking engagements across the country and in Canada and Europe. Within a few weeks, I had documented well over 3 million “eyes” who had the potential to read about my book, and thousands of people who had heard about it directly from me.
About two months after I published my book, a business book publishing company contacted me to offer to republish it under its name. They had read it and liked it a lot. They asked how many I had sold. I said that things went a bit slowly at first but were picking up, with almost 4000 copies sold. They were stunned. I learned that business books, on average, sell fewer than 3000 copies over their lifetimes.
Here's the funny part. Notwithstanding my success to that date, the publisher immediately made it clear that they would want to change the emphasis of the book, employ a new title, redesign the cover, and re-set the interior. In return for that, they would offer me royalties that were more than 80% lower than those I could receive on my own. Also, they said that I would still have to do the bulk of marketing and publicity. I demurred.
Any author today can do what I did. The idea that publishers add value to the process is simply untrue for the vast majority of authors. Let this merger go ahead. It means nothing.
Health care. Well, maybe. But right now I am talking about the proposed merger of Random House and Penguin. As reported in the New York Times:
A merger of Random House and Penguin could help the publishing houses cut costs by combining resources, and it would give them more heft in negotiations with Amazon and Apple as readers increasingly abandon print for cheaper e-books.
But for authors and their representatives, news of the merger discussions . . . came as another potential blow in an already challenging profession.
Several literary agents said a merger would lead to a consolidation of publishing imprints, thus reducing the number of bidders vying for titles. They also said that combining editing and marketing resources would likely lead to layoffs and potentially put added pressure on authors, especially those who do not churn out mass-market hits.
All this folderol justifying a merger and expressing concern about it overlooks what is happening in this field. Putting aside the really big authors and their agents, no one needs publishers any more. To use the technical term, publishers have now been disintermediated. Any author can self-publish a book. There are several user-friendly platforms that not only walk you through the process of publishing but also handle distribution and get you in the marketplace within hours or days of completing your book. For example, I wrote my book Goal Play! and self-published it on Createspace, an Amazon subsidiary. I had no need for an agent to find me a publisher, but I did hire an editor to help me with the book, a designer to craft the cover, and an experienced typesetter to deal with formatting issues.
But what about marketing and publicity? Again, you don't need publishers for that (not that they really help the majority of authors anyway.) Once published, I started marketing the book using my various social media platforms: This widely read blog, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn. Friends and contacts using those media helped me “go viral” by re-tweeting or sharing. Several bloggers kindly published their own reviews. Other readers posted reviews on Amazon. Several print and electronic newspapers published reviews. I began a tour with speaking engagements across the country and in Canada and Europe. Within a few weeks, I had documented well over 3 million “eyes” who had the potential to read about my book, and thousands of people who had heard about it directly from me.
About two months after I published my book, a business book publishing company contacted me to offer to republish it under its name. They had read it and liked it a lot. They asked how many I had sold. I said that things went a bit slowly at first but were picking up, with almost 4000 copies sold. They were stunned. I learned that business books, on average, sell fewer than 3000 copies over their lifetimes.
Here's the funny part. Notwithstanding my success to that date, the publisher immediately made it clear that they would want to change the emphasis of the book, employ a new title, redesign the cover, and re-set the interior. In return for that, they would offer me royalties that were more than 80% lower than those I could receive on my own. Also, they said that I would still have to do the bulk of marketing and publicity. I demurred.
Any author today can do what I did. The idea that publishers add value to the process is simply untrue for the vast majority of authors. Let this merger go ahead. It means nothing.