So if you haven't heard, I'm not quite sure what log you've been lying under. Publishing giants, Penguin and Random House, have decided to join forces in what the press release describes as a 'joint venture'. Basically, they just created the Super Publisher: a big gigantic penguin, probably the size of a house (obviously), waddling violently through the congested book market, throwing copies of Fifty Shades of Grey at speechless Hachette who are probably planning to buy up every single stall at next year's London Book Fair in an effort to take on this burgeoning Super Publisher.
Change is always scary and I have to say I was slightly concerned as I'm not a massive fan of having one company dominate the literary market. That said, it isn't the end of publishing, things are just changing and the publishing industry more than most should be pretty used to that notion with the gradual taking over of Kindle and its chums.
Pearson PLC and Bertelsmann who own Penguin and Random House respectively obviously think this is a good move, though. The quotes and press releases though just seem too full of suspiciously fluffy words like flourish, flair, creative energies and that famous word, 'passion'. And seriously, the least they could have done is call it Random Penguin. Think of the logo potential!
Despite my suspicions, it's certainly exciting. Makes a change from the usual literary headlines surrounding the erotica boom, the sad but inevitable demise of Waterstones and the transformation of the book world into an Amazonian Kindleforest.
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