publishing news

My author friends are all a-twitter about Penguin and Random House combining to form the world’s largest book publisher. Of course, any deal that big will be subject to regulatory approval. The deal should close in the second half of 2013, and the new firm will be called Penguin Random House.

There's a really nice article over at www.digitalbookworld.com as well as several related articles such as What the Random/Penguin Merger Means to You. Certainly, some employees of these two companies will lose their jobs. But probably if you're a writer with one of these publishers--and you're selling--the merger won't affect you. Why? Because authors produce the product, and there is no publishing business without them. Also, frankly, authors aren't that expensive. It's not like they give us health insurance or anything like that.

This deal is a symptom of the chaotic publishing industry and I'm sure it won't be the last big change we see. As a bibliophile, I really, really hope publishers and paper books continue for a long time.

What do you think? Are big publishers an endangered species?