Is That A Dinosaur I See?

Of course, it's not a real dinosaur, but it certainly is a metaphor for the once-great traditional publishing houses. I've always respected the vetting system of the big publishers. They did the reading public a service by selecting the best writing, editing manuscripts carefully, and producing quality finished products. They set a high bar for writers wanting to see their books in print. However, I'm not happy with those publishers on their newest proposed strategy, even though I understand their motivation--survival.

You've probably heard a lot about the potential merger between Penguin Random House and Simon & Schuster. The merger has caused quite a stir among writers, and at the DOJ. There's already a lawsuit to block these two giants from becoming behemoths. This move to unite has been dubbed?a?“survival of the fittest" move to protect themselves from the giant we all know and love/hate...Amazon. If you're a writer, you already understand how much Amazon controls the fate of your book. Now there's bound to be increased pressure from the publishing house side if they grow bigger and more powerful.

From what I can tell, a merger of this size means there will be even more focus on the bottom line and diminished interest?in the art form that writing should be. It means that new writers will have less opportunity to land a contract with a major publisher. It means that celebrity authors and those who follow fashionable trends will have a greater edge than they do already. It means that there's a danger fewer books of protest and demand for equality will show up in print.

It's sad to think that writers will be the group stuck between two colliding forces--mega publishing houses and Amazon. It's doubly sad that the reading public could be deprived of experimental books or ones that stir the pot of social conscience or shake up the status quo because those books might not be profitable.

In the past, when a business grew so all-encompassing that it gobbled up the market share and squashed competition (Amazon sells 49% of newly published books) the government took action to re-establish a healthy competitive environment. Perhaps we should look to the past and come down on the side of fair competition again. If that were accomplished, we might see the return of bookstores, publishing houses could retain their identities, and fledging or experimental authors would have a better chance to see their work in print.

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