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?"

Book merger 'will not be blocked'

Penguin and Random House, which are merging to form one of the world's biggest publishers, are confident of regulatory approval but will sell "bits and pieces" if necessary. Continue reading at BBC News

[ BBC News | 2012-10-29 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this

Makinson, Rebuck, Dohle reassure staff and clients

Random House and Penguin chiefs have moved to reassure staff, authors and agents as news of the... Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2012-10-29 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this

News Corp. Unit Interested in Penguin Group

Rupert Murdoch's News Corp. has expressed interest in buying book publisher Penguin Group, potentially undermining merger discussions between Penguin and Random House, people familiar with the situation said. Continue reading at AllThingsD

[ AllThingsD | 2012-10-29 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this

Penguin/Random House merger confirmed

Pearson and Bertelsmann have confirmed that Penguin and Random House are to combine into a new... Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2012-10-29 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this

Penguin and Random House: Will they combine to form the world's biggest publisher?

Pearson, the owner of Penguin, and Bertelsmann, Random House's parent company, are currently in discussions to merge the two companies. Continue reading at The Christian Science Monitor

[ The Christian Science Monitor | 2012-10-26 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this

Penguin talks lift Pearson shares

Pearson shares open higher on news that two of the world's biggest publishers, Penguin and Random House, are in talks about a possible merger. Continue reading at BBC News

[ BBC News | 2012-10-26 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this

Random House and Penguin in "merger" talks

Pearson has confirmed that it is in talks with Bertelsmann regarding a potential merger between... Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2012-10-25 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this

In Its 20th Year, Beirut’s Francophone Book Fair Soldiers On

Celebrating 20 years, Beirut's Francophone Book Fair will honor the Goncourt Academy and launch a new book prize, despite recent escalated violence in the city. Continue reading at Publishing Perspectives

[ Publishing Perspectives | 2012-10-23 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this

Dunham’s $3.7m Advance: Everything Wrong With Publishing Today?

Lena Dunham, creator of HBO’s Girls, signed a $3.7 million book deal with Random House. Rob Spillman says it is emblematic of all that is wrong with corporate publishing today. Continue reading at Publishing Perspectives

[ Publishing Perspectives | 2012-10-18 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this

New Alderson plus film deal for S&S

Simon & Schuster has signed two more books from YA author Sarah Alderson, also announcing... Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2012-10-12 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this

Sophie McKenzie signs six-figure deal with S&S

Sophie McKenzie has signed world rights for two teen novels with Simon & Schuster in a six-... Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2012-10-11 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this

Shirley Hughes and Vulliamy team up

Children’s author Shirley Hughes has been signed up for a new series by Random House... Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2012-10-10 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this

Harvill acquires memoir of Politkovskaya sister

Harvill Secker has acquired a memoir about murdered Russian journalist Anna Politkovskaya,... Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2012-10-08 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this

Harvill acquires novel from Batuman

Harvill Secker has acquired the debut novel by journalist Elif Batuman, following a "highly... Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2012-10-05 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this

Cleese memoir secured by Cornerstone

Random House has acquired world rights in the autobiography of comedy great John Cleese, star of... Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2012-10-04 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this

Google, Association of American Publishers strike deal over book digitization

The Association of American Publishers (AAP) and Google today announced an agreement that marks the end of nearly seven years of litigation, kicked off in 2005, when five members of the organization filed an infringement suit against the online giant. The deal helps bring digitized books and... Continue reading at Engadget

[ Engadget | 2012-10-04 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this