THE BUSINESS OF WRITING
SIZING UP YOUR PUBLISHER
When it comes to finding a traditional publisher, does size matter? Simon Whaley chats to two writers about their experiences
Simon Whaley
On 1 July 2013 a new publishing conglomerate was born: Penguin Random House (PRH). It brought together the Pearson-owned Penguin Group with the Bertelsmann-owned Random House to create the world’s biggest publisher. Then in November 2020, PRH announced plans to merge with Simon & Schuster. The biggest could be getting bigger.
With conglomerates growing ever larger, and new smaller, independent publishers launching all the time, knowing which publishers to approach can be confusing. If your dream is to be published by a traditional publisher, which is best for your writing business: targeting one of the big five mega-publishers, or approaching a smaller independent? Signing with a large publisher could make you an insignificant fish in a large ocean. Whereas, could signing with an independent publisher leave your book fighting for shelf space in a market dominated by PRH, Pan Macmillan, Hachette and Harper Collins?
I’ve been published by both large and small publishers, so I’ve seen both sides of the story. I’ve often wondered if the reason my first book, One Hundred Ways For A Dog To Train Its Human, sold 100,000 copies in three months is because the Hachette group who published it had the financial muscle to negotiate with book retailers about positioning it by the till points in their stores.
However, when the much smaller How To Books (later part of the Little Brown Group) published my Fundraising For A Community Project, I was amazed at how hard the publicity team worked at getting me on local radio stations all around the country to talk about the book.