22 February 2021
Much of the loudest buzz within the book business is of Random House's plan to swallow Simon & Schuster.
S&S among other advantages could enjoy more outlets for its books. But such a vision still reeks of "shuffling chairs on the Titanic."
Merger or no merger, and regardless of Random House's profits, the industry as a whole is a dismal underperformer, as shown by pre-Covid numbers from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics-covering publishers of all kinds, large and small.
