The new owner of the nearly century-old publisher is the private investment firm KKR. You can read about the deal here in Publishers Weekly.
This means we still have a "big five" of corporate publishers in the US, avoiding the consolidation of giant publishers which isn't particularly good for we creators of children's, tween, and teen books.
Part of being a creator is keeping up with the big news in our industry...
Illustrate, Translate, and Write On,
Lee
This Los Angeles Times opinion piece by indie publisher Chad W. Post, argues just that, saying the current ecosystem is one where "the most monied companies determine what is read."
The Authors Guild agrees the merger is bad for authors, stating,
“there would be fewer competing bidders for their manuscripts, which would inevitably drive down advances offered…. The history of publishing consolidation has also taught us that authors are further hurt by such mergers due to editorial layoffs, canceling of contracts, a reduction in diversity among authors and ideas, a more conservative approach to risk-taking, and fewer imprints under which an author may publish.”
Chad discusses another troublesome dynamic of how indie publishers and the soon to be "big four" interact:
"For the conglomerates, the most financially prudent way to acquire authors who aren’t sure things is to treat independent publishers as farm clubs that identify and develop talent ripe for exploitation. Let the presses with the thinnest profit margins take the risks, seek out the undiscovered — the books readers didn’t know they wanted, the authors who change the way we talk about writing — and then, once they’ve proved these books can take off, just poach the authors. Simple. A winning formula."But the case is being made that the winners aren't authors, or diversity of voices, or even readers.
As reported this week by Edmund Lee in The New York Times, among the top bidders for Simon & Schuster are:
"News Corp, which already owns HarperCollins," and
"Simon & Schuster is joining other publishers such as Thomas Nelson and Harlequin in pairing with Author Solutions--now owned by Penguin/Pearson--to offer its own self-publishing service. (Now that Nelson is owned by HarperCollins, that connects ASI to three of the largest trade publishers.)
The service, operated by ASI under license, brings back the old Archway brand and will be known as Archway Publishing. (Archway was an S&S line of young adult paperbacks, which published lines including Nancy Drew and The Hardy Boys.)
Like the other publisher co-branded ASI offerings, Archway Publishing offers self-published authors premium-priced packages that start at $1,999 (and $1,599 for children's book authors) and reach up to $25,000. (Nelson's West Bow Press packages start at $999; Harlequin's Dellarte's services start at $599. Other publishing partners include Hay House, Writer's Digest, and Guideposts.)
"As with the other publisher-affiliated lines, Archway dangles the prospect that ASI "will alert Simon & Schuster to Archway Publishing titles that perform well in the market."
"Through Archway Publishing, Simon & Schuster is pleased to be part of the rapidly expanding self-publishing segment of our industry.... We're excited that we'll be able to help more authors find their own path to publication and at the same time create a more direct connection to those self-published authors ready to make the leap to traditional publishing."Fascinating times we're writing and illustrating in!
Jaime: Okay, help is on the way. In the meantime, I'm having my people send Justin [Chanda] a bunch of emails so he'll be distracted and hopefully you'll be able to answer a few more questions. Illustrators will definitely want to know if you are currently acquiring?
Lucy: We are always acquiring new talent. I'm always keeping my eyes peeled. Even if I can't place someone on a project immediately (and it is true that some parts of publisher's lists are shrinking!) I'll often keep them on hand waiting for the right project. An example of this is the debut book from illustrator Jon Klassen, CATS' NIGHT OUT by Caroline Stutson - Jon just received the Governor General's Award for this project, and I had had his work on hand for several years before I was able to pair him with the perfect project. Although we may not always be able to immediately put the rubber to the road with new folks, good artwork makes a strong impression and the quest for a winning collaboration is always on my mind.
As for what I'm looking for - there's never anything specific. I love such a range of things, but I'm mainly looking for things I'm touched by. I love cute. I love simple. But I also love creepy and detailed! There's no one thing I'm looking for and I'm always happy to be surprised.
Jaime: Denise, did you know not only are you an Art Director, you're a flipping Vice President? What is your average day like?Be sure to check out both the interviews for insights from these terrific art directors and to see if they had the same answers to Kill, kiss or marry: Helvetica, Baskerville or Comic Sans? If you attend the conference, you can meet each of them during their breakout workshops. And--attention illustrators--there's still space in the Illustrators' Intensive, Beyond Books: Picture Books and the New Media.
Denise: If you count time spent on the train, checking files and reading manuscripts, my day is about 9 hours. We are usually juggling about 60 books at various points of development. I work very closely with the editors and the designers in my department from start to finish. Making books is very collaborative. Rarely do I work alone.
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