Tuesday, October 30, 2012

Penguin/ Random merger. What does it mean.

The following article was written by Forbes contributor Jeremy Greenfield
Penguin and Random House, by many accounts the two largest trade publishers in the world, have agreed to merge operations. The deal will be subject to regulatory approval and isn’t expected to close until the second half of 2013. The new company will be called Penguin Random House. Many more details here.
But assuming it does close, what does it mean for the book publishing industry? Here are some quick thoughts, organized into two groups: Obvious and Less Obvious.
1. Obvious: When two large companies merge, there are cost-savings to be had in combining shared business functions. In the case of Random House and Penguin, there’s a lot to combine. Pearson, Penguin’s parent company, said in its statement that it would find efficiencies in combining warehousing, distribution, printing and “central functions” costs. Central functions will be things like legal, accounting and operations management. The company will likely also combine technology systems and thereby reduce technology maintenance costs. Read more.
2. Obvious: Scale. A merger between these two companies will create a behemoth publisher that would have had about $4 billion in revenues in 2011, one that should have the resources to make bigger investments across the board. The company would have 9,000 employees and would have locations in about 20 countries around the world, including China, India, all major English-speaking countries and many countries in the Spanish-speaking world. This size and reach would give Penguin Random House advantages in recruiting, expanding internationally, making digital investments and in negotiating with partners. Read more.
3. Less Obvious: Negotiations with partners. It’s been speculated the Penguin Random House would control about 40% of the U.S. trade book business. The company would have a dozen of the top-25 best-selling ebooks this week. That gives the company more negotiating power, specifically with its largest trading partner, Amazon. Amazon is thought to be a ruthless negotiator, squeezing its partners for more efficiency and to help maintain its razor-thin profit margin. Though publishing deals between Amazon and major publishers have not been made public, it’s thought that Amazon is able to craft fairly advantageous deals for itself. Penguin Random House would potentially have the market power to negotiate better deals for itself. That said, the company’s $4 billion in revenues in 2011 put it at about a tenth the size of Amazon with its $48.08 in revenues. Read more.
4. Less Obvious: Negotiations with authors. Random House CEO Markus Dohle, who will be CEO of the combined firm, sent a letter to literary agents today, reassuring them that the merger was a good thing for them and their clients (authors). But the larger Penguin Random House might have the negotiating power to squeeze better terms from agents and authors in exchange for unmatched marketing and distribution resources. (“If you sign with us, you’ll sell more copies in more countries and make more money,” they might be able to say.) Read more.
5. Less Obvious: Further consolidation in publishing. Before today’s news, there were rumors about a News Corp takeover of Penguin that would see it merged with HarperCollins, which would have likely created the largest trade publisher in the world. Now that a Penguin takeover is off the table (pending regulatory approval of the Penguin-Random House marriage), it is likely that News Corp will seek another suitor for HarperCollins, like Macmillan, Hachette or Simon & Schuster, the three remaining major publishers. Read more.

What all this means for the Australian publishing industry is hard to tell But I am sure it will mean a couple of things.It will consolidate two of the biggest players, if not the biggest two players in the Australian market into one entity. That entity will have a lot of clout. Quite often such amalgamations in such a creative area as publishing will actually reduce innovation and creativity as there are to many corporate hurdles to jump through to create something a bit different or to publish a new author. We may see a bit of dumbing down of the market as this new organization will only publish authors with history.

As a result there will be openings for creative new players in the market that don't have massive overheads and are willing to take gambles in both ebook and pbook publishing.

One example is our own Selfpublishing ebook website www.downloadbooks.net.au . This website takes on new unpublished authors at very little cost. These are authors that would not ber published by PenguinRandom.


What also will happen to the publishers  other than Penguin and Random that are distributed out of the Penguin and Random distribution centres. They may have to find new homes for their sales force and distribution.

What also about bookshops. Already Penguin and Random probably supply about 10% each of book supplied per month into our shop. Its a bit scary when one publisher will supply over 20% of our stock. You wouldn't want to have a dispute with them.


There will be fun times ahead.

Wednesday, October 17, 2012

Man Booker Winner announced for 2012
The Winner is Hilary Mantel for "Bringing up the Bodies"

Congratulation to Hilary for backing up her 2009 Man Booker award winning novel Wolf Hall

Available now in store at Thesaurus Bookstore or as an Ebook from our Ebook Store for only $17.99

Cheaper than the Amazon Kindle at $18.50

 The Man Booker winner is the sequel to the Man Booker-winning Wolf Hall. ‘Bring Up The Bodies succeeds brilliantly in every particle of this: it’s an imaginative achievement to exhaust superlatives’ Spectator By 1535 Thomas Cromwell, the blacksmith’s son, is far from his humble origins. Chief Minister to Henry VIII, his fortunes have risen with those of Anne Boleyn, Henry’s second wife. But Anne has failed to bear a son to secure the Tudor line. At Wolf Hall, Cromwell watches Henry fall in love with plain Jane Seymour. The minister sees what is at stake: not just the king’s pleasure, but the safety of the nation. As he eases a way through the sexual politics of the court, he must negotiate a ‘truth’ that will satisfy Henry and secure his own career. But neither minister nor king will emerge undamaged from the bloody theatre of Anne’s final days. In Bring up the Bodies, sequel to the Man Booker Prize-winning Wolf Hall, Hilary Mantel explores one of the most mystifying and frightening episodes in English history: the destruction of Anne Boleyn. ‘This is a great novel of dark and dirty passions, public and private. It is also an exploration of what still shocks us… A truly great story, it rolls on’ James Naughtie, Financial Times


Tuesday, October 9, 2012

ABC For Kids

Thesaurus Booksellers has been running successfully an ABC Centre as part of its business for the past 25 years. The ABC brand is one of the most recognised and trusted brands in Australia.

There has been a lot of talk recently about digital product spelling the end of printed books, dvd's and music cd's. That is far from the case. Although digital product has its place it does not mean the end of purchasing a hard copy of the product.

Jude, our ABC centres manager and owner of Thesaurus has just returned from the annual ABC Conference and far from gloom and doom there is nothing but a positive vibe about our future. The ABC has some fantastic product coming out in the next few months for adults and children.

In fact childrens product is an ABC strong point.The ABC have facebook page called
"ABC for Kids for Parents"
I have listed below why clicking on 'Like" the page is well worth while.

About

A place for parents who want to know how to make ABC For Kids a part of their child's world.
Company Overview
ABC for Kids puts smiles on the faces of your little ones.
Now we’d like to light up your Facebook!
As the No. 1 Preschool brand in DVD and CD in Australia, we share our day with The Wiggles, Thomas & Friends, Fireman Sam, Play School, Justine Clarke and many more fabulous friends.
As one of our friends, you can get instant access to the latest news & competitions; find the latest releases, give us your views and reviews, interact with other ABC for Kids parents and discover pre-schooler activities for your child.
If you have young ones in your life and are interested in not only what the ABC provide in the way of product but also parenting tips, click on the 'ABC for Kids for Parents" facebook page .

If you want more information or are interested in any ABC product email Jude on Contact us via email