The Bottom Line

One of the major news items for the book industry in July was the global merger of Penguin and Random House. In a recent article in The Globe and Mail, the scale of the merger is noted: the new company has 250 separate publishing imprints spanning five continents and will control 25% of the American trade-book market (with an even higher percentage in Canada).

According to Markus Dohle, the CEO of the new Penguin Random House, the combined resources of the two companies will allow them to reach readers “more directly and effectively than anyone else”. There are plans to develop a new model for communicating with readers to encourage their loyalty. Dohle also talks about the “societal assignment” of Penguin and Random House to “have a hugely positive impact on our future society” through the influence of the books that the company publishes and actively promotes.

Elsewhere, however, Dohle indicates that his mission is to assure the new company will be “top-line revenue-growth-oriented, both domestically and worldwide.” In an industry where the bottom line dictates that publishers promote recognizable author names with previous bestsellers in order to generate this revenue, does Dohle seriously believe that these are the people we want influencing (rather than entertaining) us?

For the full text of the article, please see http://www.theglobeandmail.com/arts/b....