Nice pics:
http://authorselectric.blogspot.co.u...een-jones.html
Quote:
The Big 6 are not so big any more. According to the latest figures for 2013, Penguin Random House came top of the table with a 24% share of the market, but its sales were down £342m (15%). All the others - Hachette, HarperCollins, Pan MacMillan, Bloomsbury, and Simon & Schuster were also down. Their total share of the market was only 59% - down from 70% in 2001. Is this a sign that their dominance of the book trade is fading? I think it is. But they won't go down without a fight, so - more turbulent times ahead.
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Quote:
The trend for conglomeration in the face of severe competition continues and this inevitably means mergers and job losses. The Penguin Random House merger has seen major bloodshed among the staff (out of the public eye) with the loss of many talented individuals, some of whom have now gone freelance because there's simply nowhere else to go. Several small independent publishers have been hoovered up - sadly the innovative Quercus press was acquired by Hodder (part of Hachette) after making big losses.
Constable, which was taken over by Nick Robinson is 2000, has now been taken over by Little, Brown (also part of Hachette) following Nick's recent death. This means less choice for traditionally published authors and will precipitate more movement towards the self-publishing sector.
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More at the source.
Looks like its not just in the US where Tradpub decline is feeding consolidation.