Comment is Free...

Comment is free. Not sure who said that originally, but I'm sure someone did...

Happy Halloween - if you're reading this on Wednesday; otherwise hello and thank you for
visiting. :-)

Now two delightful bloggers, Patsy and Rosemary have awarded me the top commenters award, thank you ladies.



I enjoy reading the comments you leave me, and I like to read those left by other bloggers (on posts by those I follow - in a non-creepy way of course) as it's good to get other viewpoints on the same subject.

And if you leave a comment here, I know I'm not just talking to the ether...

As those who know me, or have known me for many years will confirm, I usually have an opinion on most things, but I'm getting better at not commenting when it's probably a good idea to keep quiet...

As my top commenters have already been awarded this I'm not sure I have anyone left to mention. But if I look through past posts and find a few, I'll add their names in- so watch out!

The phrase 'comment is free' comes from C P Scott- a British journalist, publisher and politician. He was the editor of the Manchester Guardian (now the Guardian, which has a column, Comment is free ).

The full quote is: "Comment is free, but facts are sacred."

A worthy quote...

Is the Random/Penguin Merger Just the Start?

Over the weekend there were a few media discussions about the potential merger between Random House and Penguin Group.

Early today (Monday) the merger was confirmed, read the details from Random House here.

"The new name will be Penguin Random House. Until the closing, the companies will maintain their current separate operations and continue conducting business independently."

 (If only they'd gone for Random Penguin :-) )

While they've agreed, the regulatory authorities will be sure to look at whether there is any competition conflict. If they decide to look into it, that will delay the completion of the merger; but no doubt the owners of the two groups (Bertelsmann, and Pearson) knew it was likely and will no doubt progress with the rest of their plans in the meantime.

Though I can understand why they've chosen this route.

Apart they are not only competing again Amazon and Apple, but also against each other. While books are selling, the digital side of the market is going full steam and they're still playing catch up...

Like any company (whatever the industry) mergers mean changes. There are bound to be areas where downsizing will happen, so it's going to create worry for some employees.

Marjorie Scardino, chief executive of Pearson, said " "... Together, the two publishers will be able to share a large part of their costs, to invest more for their author and reader constituencies and to be more adventurous in trying new models in this exciting, fast-moving world of digital books and digital readers.” "

(author and reader constituencies?) I'm always suspicious when any executive starts talking shorthand, it makes me think they're glossing over less than pleasant facts- but that's just my personal opinion.

There's been years of small publishing companies being bought up and merged to form these big publishing groups, now they're cannibalising themselves.

Small independent presses are flourishing and getting authors nominated for high profile awards. So perhaps they are where new authors should be aiming their submissions?

I wonder how long it will be before the big six become the big three? And from there, two, or even perhaps one, so they can compete size wise with Amazon?

2013 will certainly be interesting...