Are small publishers doing all the hard work for the big ones?

These days, it is minimally staffed and funded firms who invest in new authors. The giants avoid such risk, only picking the writers once their names are madePaul McVeigh and Kirsty Logan are authors you may have heard of. Both of their debuts were published by Salt, an independent publisher. Paul McVeigh’s The Good Son was shortlisted for a bunch of awards, and won the Polari first book prize this year. Kirsty Logan’s The Rental Heart and Other Fairytales won three awards — including the Polari in 2015— and Logan had her next book published with Harvill Secker, a division of Penguin Random House. The same trajectory is likely for Paul McVeigh. It’s a familiar story.Independent publishers have existed since the 19th century; it wasn’t until the 20th and the 21st that we saw the industry dominated by a few corporations. “The Big Four” publishers – Simon & Schuster, Penguin Random House, Hachette and HarperCollins – have grown big by buying up small publishers. Hogarth, for example, was founded by Leonard and Virginia Woolf in 1917; now it is an imprint at the Crown Publishing Group, which is in turn a part of Penguin Random House – which itself used to be Penguin and Random House before their merger in 2013. Phew. Related: 'Crazy but fantastic': Man Booker prize pitches tiny publishers into big league Related: A northern powerhouse really is coming – in publishing Continue reading... Continue reading at 'The Guardian'

[ The Guardian | 2016-12-08 00:00:00 UTC ]

Other news stories related to: "Are small publishers doing all the hard work for the big ones?"


Bertelsmann buys e-learning company Relias Learning

Bertelmann is to spend "in the mid-hundreds of millions" in US dollars on American e-learning provider Relias Learning, describing it as the company's "biggest purchase in the US since it took over Random House in 1998". The buy, which will have to be approved by antitrust authorities, is... Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2014-10-22 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this


Amazon and Simon & Schuster reach a deal on internet book sales

Amazon just found a way to put further pressure on Hachette in its ongoing pricing war: strike a deal with another publisher. The online retailer has forged a new agreement with Simon & Schuster that will keep the book giant's digital and physical... Continue reading at Engadget

[ Engadget | 2014-10-21 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this


Trade tributes to Lynda Bellingham

Lynda Bellingham’s fiction publisher Simon & Schuster has paid tribute to her as a “vibrant” woman who leaves “a truly wonderful literary legacy”. The British actress died yesterday (19th October) aged 66, after a battle with colon cancer. She wrote the novel Tell Me Tomorrow for Simon... Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2014-10-21 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this


S&S, Amazon Agree on 'Version' of Agency Pricing

The new sales agreement supposedly reached on Monday by Amazon and Simon & Schuster, has been confirmed by both parties. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2014-10-21 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this


S&S to Go Agency With Amazon

As Hachette continues its stalemate with Amazon over ebook sales terms, Simon & Schuster has reached a new agreement with the e-tailer. Among other things, the new deal will allow S&S to set the prices on its ebooks, marking a return to the agency model. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2014-10-20 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this


HC signs celebrity biographies from Smith

HarperCollins has acquired two celebrity biographies by Sean Smith, in a deal with Gordon Wise of Curtis Brown. Smith has previously written unauthorised biographies of celebrities such as Cheryl Fernandez-Versini and Robbie Williams, both published by Simon & Schuster. HarperCollins has... Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2014-10-18 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this


Licensing Hotline: October 16

Simon & Schuster has secured the rights to produce Ready to Read books in North America based on the preschool series 'Doozers,' licensed by the Jim Henson Company. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2014-10-16 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this


Saga Press E-books To Be DRM-Free

Simon & Schuster's fledgling science fiction and fantasy imprint, Saga Press, will publish its ebooks without DRM, the company said Wednesday afternoon. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2014-10-08 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this


S&S Launches Books Category on Milq

Simon & Schuster is teaming with Milq, a new social media platform, to launch a Books category on the content curation venture. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2014-10-07 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this


Howard Books Signs 'Shack' Author to New Deal

Howard Books, the Christian imprint of Simon & Schuster, will publish two new books by William Paul Young, author of the bestseller 'The Shack.' Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2014-10-02 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this


PRH Completes Sales Group Buyout

In another step in the integration of Penguin and Random House, the company has completed the buyout process of eligible members within the PRH sales group. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2014-09-30 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this


S&S Inks Deal to Make Digital Backlist Available in Scandinavia

Simon & Schuster has partnered with Scandinavian ebook subscription service Mofibo to make its backlist titles available to readers in Denmark and Sweden. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2014-09-30 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this


Random House Offers 2-Day Transit for the Holidays

For the third year in a row, Random House (but not its Penguin side, because the warehouses aren't integrated yet) will provide express shipping, starting November 1. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2014-09-30 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this


Moving In Together: Canadian Publishing 2014

The merger of Penguin and Random House in Canada is beginning to taking shape in two new, concrete ways. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2014-09-19 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this


Harvill Secker signs more from Dolan

Harvill Secker has acquired two more books by crime writer Eva Dolan. Senior crime editor... Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2014-09-19 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this


Publishers' portals look to inform authors

More than 700 authors and 75 agencies have registered for Random House’s Author Portal... Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2014-09-12 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this


Publishing in Finland: Leena Majander-Reenpää, Publisher, WSOY

Leena Majander-Reenpää is the publisher of WSOY, one of the leading Finnish publishers dating back to the 19th century. Find out about the latest authors, bestsellers and digital publishing projects from WSOY. Continue reading at Publishing Perspectives

[ Publishing Perspectives | 2014-09-10 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this


The Penguin Publishing Group Takes Shape

Fourteen months after the completion of the Random House–Penguin Group merger, PRH CEO Markus Dohle has created the Penguin Publishing Group, which puts all Penguin adult imprints under Madeline McIntosh, who was named president of the new unit. The move is Dohle’s most aggressive yet in... Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2014-09-05 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this


Bruce Springsteen picture book for S&S

Simon & Schuster is to publish an adult picture book by Bruce Springsteen, based on his song... Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2014-08-29 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this


Obeid book to be pulped

Random House has pulled the best selling anti-corruption expose He Who Must Be Obeid from bookstores after instance of mistaken identity Continue reading at The Sydney Morning Herald

[ The Sydney Morning Herald | 2014-08-21 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this