Penguin and Random House in merger talks?

I would totally buy something from random penguin.

Wow. So it's going to be the Big 5? Rather than 6?

CQuinlan said:

I would totally buy something from random penguin.

Click to expand...

Love this! Now to think up a new logo....

You guys hear that creepy death knell in the distance, or is it just me?

leahzero said:

You guys hear that creepy death knell in the distance, or is it just me?

Click to expand...

Please don't turn this into another "self-publishing is ruling the world and trade publishing is doomed" thread.

Thank you.

CQuinlan said:

I would totally buy something from random penguin.

Click to expand...

No, Penguin House

Sheryl Nantus said:

Please don't turn this into another "self-publishing is ruling the world and trade publishing is doomed" thread.

Thank you.

Click to expand...

IMO, I didn't get "self-publishing will rule the world" from that comment...

I got a "narrowing of choices" feel. Like, in the future, we might get to choose from:

1. Amazon
2. Random Harper Penguin MacShusterHatchette
3. Floundering in obscurity

The death knell of the (already remote) possibility of making a living from fiction? Yeah, I hear that.

Look on the bright side! Getting into the Big Five sounds even more exclusive than getting into the Big Six!

And they can call themselves Random Penguin, thus becoming the coolest name in publishing.

Oh! And since Random House had Fifty Shades and Penguin has Bared to You, together they can rule the universe of mommy porn. Or should I say dominate?

Rhoda Nightingale said:

Wow. So it's going to be the Big 5? Rather than 6?

Click to expand...

It's going to be just like accounting with the Big 4.

Sheryl Nantus said:

Please don't turn this into another "self-publishing is ruling the world and trade publishing is doomed" thread.

Thank you.

Click to expand...

I was being flippant, thank you.

But what swvaughn said.

Personally, I'd like to see Angry Robot bust out into the mainstream. That could be potentially awesome.

And I vote for "Penguin House." I like the sound of it.

This thread needs a poll for name choices.

And sooner than we though, we will say, and then there was only ONE, Amazon...

What surprises me in this message is that Random House publishes about 10,000 books a year while Penguin publishes about 4,000 a year. Together that is 14,000 books published a year. I thought the numbers would be higher...

Xelebes said:

It's going to be just like accounting with the Big 4.

Click to expand...

Or the music industry which has the Big 3... which is a bit scary since less than 10 years ago they were the Big 5, and fifteen years ago they were the Big 6.

Personally, I like House Penguin. The logo could be super cute.

_ _ _ may well mean more money for authors in their stable, which is cool.

CQuinlan said:

I would totally buy something from random penguin.

Click to expand...

swvaughn said:

... in the future, we might get to choose from:

1. Amazon
2. Random Harper Penguin MacShusterHatchette
3. Floundering in obscurity

Click to expand...

This also made me laugh out loud.
But good Lord I hope it stays untrue.

Thanks for posting this Torgo. Holy crap indeed!

That's what I thought reading the header in PW Daily this morning.

I remember a 2004 not quite satirical film about such mergers. Go look for
'Googlezon' and see if it doesn't first make you laugh - then shudder.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/EPIC_2014

I'll cast a vote for Random Penguin. It goes along with the nature of the two companies' major bestsellers right now. Especially since we now know that, rather than being adorable icons of neoconservative parenting, penguins seem to be kinky little bastards.

House of Penguin sounds more like a fashion company than a publisher. I'm not so sure how I feel about the merger. I need more details.

C'mon...Penguin house sounds adorable. It'd totally want to submit my books to Penguin house.

It'd better at least become the name of a YA or MG imprint.

swvaughn said:

IMO, I didn't get "self-publishing will rule the world" from that comment...

I got a "narrowing of choices" feel. Like, in the future, we might get to choose from:

1. Amazon
2. Random Harper Penguin MacShusterHatchette
3. Floundering in obscurity

The death knell of the (already remote) possibility of making a living from fiction? Yeah, I hear that.

Click to expand...