Something is happening to Australian books. In the past six months, two big multinationals have taken over two independent publishing houses, and a third Australian company has swallowed another independent. Are we witnessing an incredible shrinking publishing industry?
Not so, according to the glowing press releases. The latest acquisition is the much-admired independent Text Publishing, which has joined Penguin Random House. Text publisher Michael Heyward says they are lucky to have found the right custodian and are excited about this “wonderful opportunity” to guarantee the company’s future. He points out they have signed a charter of independence that will allow Text to retain full publishing control.
Text publisher Michael Heyward remains positive that the Penguin Random House takeover won’t affect local output.Credit: Simon Schluter
“It’s a good time for Text to sell if they wanted to, and I suspect Penguin Random House gave them an offer they couldn’t refuse,” says former publisher Hilary McPhee. “They will have a nice breathing space. But I don’t think it’s good news at all. It’s sad for the authors and for the staff. These are really tough owners because they are part of a multinational, they play by their rules.”
Multinationals like PRH are getting more and more nervous, she says. “Books aren’t selling anything like they used to. The market is very fragile. So publishers are extremely shy about what they take on.”
In an increasingly tough environment, independents may need the protection of the big boys to survive. Last August, global publisher Simon & Schuster acquired Affirm Press. Martin Hughes, the co-founder of Affirm Press, who oversaw the sale with an assurance that Affirm’s vision would be retained, has said “we’d be mad not to do this”. (Hardie Grant’s acquisition of Pantera Press last September was a bit different: that was one local independent taking over another).
Hilary McPhee says the Text acquisition is sad for its authors and staff.
McPhee has joined a number of industry insiders and observers who have criticised such deals as bad for readers and for Australian literature. Alice Grundy, a visiting fellow at ANU, writes in The Conversation that if the trend continues, “there will be more losses for local and international readers”. In The Guardian, Sophie Cunningham, the chair of the Australian Society of Authors, said the trend was “deeply concerning” and there was a danger of losing Australian culture.
It’s not just shrinkage that worries them, it’s potential loss of quality. Although the big-five companies (PRH, Hachette, Simon & Schuster, HarperCollins and Pan Macmillan) now own a large chunk of the Australian industry, we still have the independent Allen & Unwin and a cluster of small, proud independent publishers that punch well above their weight.
Their books dominate the prize shortlists: Text alone has authors who have been shortlisted for the Nobel, the Booker and the Pulitzer prizes overseas, and others in their line-up have won the Australian Miles Franklin and Stella prizes. There’s been a tradition of independents taking more risks, backing innovative and experimental writing, supporting diversity, introducing readers to overseas writers in translation and nurturing newcomers in a way that the big five, with their focus on commercial success, frequently can’t do.
