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  n the fast-paced world of corporate consolidation, it wasn't too surprising that I had to update part of this article in a month's time. Since then, I found there have been mergers, acquisitions of imprints, and splits in corporate umbrellas.
 My mission in writing this article is to give you an overview, so we all can obtain the knowledge that affects us as writers behind the scenes. Just keep in mind, changes can occur within the amount of time it takes you to Google a publisher.
Understand this information affects the publishing industry as a whole, and explains why things work the way they do for us as authors. And although it clarifies things to a certain extent, it also cannot solve anything. So, I advise that you read this with the intention of getting acquainted with the industry, keep on doing what your doing, and never give up!
THE STORY OF HOW IT ALL BEGAN:
Once upon a time, decades ago, there were hundreds of mom-and-pop companies that made up the whole of the U.S. publishing industry. These individuals had a passion for books and a sheer love for the written word. Of course, they possessed the skills for running a business, but at the time many people couldn't read, so money was not necessarily their primary objective. If it were, they would've chosen more lucrative careers. Some of these founders of literacy still have their family names on many of our popular imprints today.
These little publishing houses had unique voices in the industry, acquiring the titles that they enjoyed. Due to their various publications they managed to create an assorted reading list, none of which defined our culture, but together created many diversified voices of the population. As readers and literacy grew, so did the publishing houses. Bigger companies bought out mom-and-pop companies, until these little tribes became a unified nation.
Today, the big houses are mainly owned by foreign entities, most of which you've probably never heard of. These companies own all the brand names of the houses they've acquired throughout the decades, which serve as their imprints. We've broken them down into THE BIG SIX LIST, all of which include other media: magazines, movies, broadcast, TV, cable, newspapers, music, and online.
These guys dictate what the bestsellers are, the voices of our nation, and what's hot or not. They have the ability to buy front-row table space in all the major bookstores, decide which titles to push to the media, and which titles they will invest tens of millions to promote as their front list. Basically, they have the ability to move a nation. So, if you ever have the opportunity to join them, don't think twice, because they have a lot of dedicated editors on their staff that will work tenfold to make sure you achieve your goals, while achieving theirs.
WHY BIG HOUSE EDITORS DO WHAT THEY DO:
Let's imagine for a moment that you're an editor at one of the big houses in New York City. To get your position you've attended an Ivy League college and you've worked hard at your goal because you have a love of books. The people you went to college with have become successful entrepreneurs, lawyers, accountants, businesswomen etc. and have established a six-figure-plus income and own their own homes. But you live in a New York apartment and carry home a hefty stack of manuscripts every night and read until your exhausted enough to fall asleep in your Ikea bed.
You're smarter than most, but you aren't awarded by luxuries. One thing you have to your advantage is that you love your job. You've been reading since you were a young girl and have a passion for literature, but you know that this job is more than simply loving a book; it's about acquiring a bestseller. Now, that's a lot of pressure, isn't it?
To get to where you want to be as a successful editor, you're going to have to acquire some bestselling titles. You're going to be competing with editors from other publishing houses to secure the highest salary and a top position. So choosing the right manuscript to publish becomes an extremely important decision to you as an editor and to the publishing industry.
It's not too surprising that the big houses turn down many mid-list books, which in loose-definition are mainstream fiction and nonfiction books that don't quite contain all the ingredients required of bestsellers. They do have a place in the publishing industry, but probably aren't the books you see on fancy end tables in superstores, nor are they the ones receiving huge advances from publishers. That's where literary agents come into play. They are essential to an editor for discovering good material. If you want to get into a big house as an author, you are going to need a good agent to take you there. That's simply how the process works.
WHY AGENTS ARE IMPORTANT TO THE BIG HOUSE:
Agents are the essential contact to editors whose jobs depend on choosing the right titles.
No matter what occupation you're in, if you are a business owner and need help, you're going to hire a girl Friday or a secretary-and when they can't handle the number of solicitations you receive from prospective clients, then you're going to go with a contractor. This person will cut down your in-house overhead, and, if they have a proven track record, they will be able to boost your business as an entrepreneur.
That is why agents are an important part of how the big houses work. They provide the screening, editing, and polished material that quickly eclipses all other means of submission, especially if that agent has an established relationship with editorial standards.
As an editor, if an agented manuscript arrives, it receives your rapid attention and consideration, for their standards are most likely going to further your career in the dog-eat-dog world of the big house.
WHAT DEFINES THE BIG HOUSE?
There are several independent presses that publish as many titles as the big houses do and have the means to sell just as well. But for the sake of definition, we are not including them because they run under a totally different structure (to find out more about them, see last month's Small Presses Issue).
The structure of the big house is similar to any enormous mega-corporation. They have a global umbrella that owns many different companies in diverse avenues. They have a board of directors who make decisions and stockholders to answer to. Here are a few simple definitions:
- Most are conglomerates controlled by foreign interests.
- Book publishing is only a small part of their much larger agenda.
- Their other interests may include: movies, magazines, cable channels, broadcast, music and Internet properties.
WHY GO WITH A BIG HOUSE?
Why not? They control most of the world's media and have the power to make your book a bestseller, if they choose it for their front list. They have dedicated editors who will help make your book the best it can be; otherwise they wouldn't have signed you in the first place. And last, but not least, they have the power to offer you an awesome advance.
WHO THEY ARE, WHAT THEY OWN, WHEN THEY MERGED, WHERE THEY ARE LOCATED, WHY THEY ARE BIG, HOW IT ALL BEGAN
In Alphabetical Order:
1. BERTELSMANN AG
"As one of Germany's major historic companies, Bertelsmann has borne a special responsibility towards its employees for 170 years. Tradition-consciousness is a fixture in our corporate culture, which strives to integrate historically developed values with modern corporate policy. Only by dealing with its own history can a company review its progressive decisions based on one's own the history, and thereby give it a sound and lasting foundation."
 Bertelsmann is a global media firm based in Germany who owns publishing, music, and broadcasting operations in 60 countries. Bertelsmann produces, serves, and markets media. Their content is contributed by RTL Group, the No. 1 European broadcaster; Random House, the world's largest book-publishing group; Gruner + Jahr, Europe's biggest magazine publisher; and BMG, the umbrella of Sony BMG Music Entertainment and BMG Music Publishing. Arvato provides media and communication services, while Direct Group is the global market leader in media distribution through clubs and on the Internet.
Bertelsmann AG
Carl-Bertelsmann-Str. 270
33311 Gütersloh
Germany
Website: http://www.bertelsmann.com
U.S. BOOK PUBLISHERS BERTELSMANN AG OWNS:
Random House, Inc.
Random House, Inc. is the world's largest English-language general trade book publisher. It is a division of Bertelsmann AG, one of the foremost media companies in the world.
Random House, Inc. Timeline:
1925 - Founded when Bennett Cerf and Donald Klopfer purchased The Modern Library from Horace Liveright.
1927 - Random House colophon made its debut.
1930s - Started publishing children's books.
1947 - Entered reference publishing with the American College Dictionary.
1960 - Random House acquired the American publishing house of Alfred A. Knopf, Inc.
1961 - Acquired Pantheon Books, which had been established in New York by European editors to publish works from abroad.
1965 - Random House, Inc. itself was acquired by the major media corporation, RCA.
1966 - Published the unabridged Random House Dictionary of the English Language.
1973 - Acquired Ballentine Books, whose mass market paperback publishing program enabled Random House to reach a broader and diverse readership.
1980 - Random House itself was acquired by Advance Publications, Inc., a privately held company.
1982 - Acquired the paperback publisher Fawcett Books, a hardcover imprint.
1983 - Created Villard Books, a new hardcover imprint.
1984 - Acquired Times Books from The New York Times Company.
1986 - Acquired Fodor's Travel Guides.
1988 - Random House grew dramatically with the acquisition of the Crown Publishing Group, whose imprints include Crown; Clarkson Potter, Inc.; Harmony Books; and the Outlet Book Company, a publisher of low-priced books, now known as Random House Value Publishing.
Random House, Inc. assumed its current form with its acquisition by Bertelsmann in 1998, which brought together the imprints of the former Random House, Inc. with those of the former Bantam Doubleday Dell.
Random House, Inc.'s publishing groups are listed below. Together, these groups and their imprints publish fiction and nonfiction, both original and reprints, by some of the foremost and most popular writers of our time. They appear in a full range of formats--including hardcover, trade paperback, mass market paperback, audio, electronic, and digital, for the widest possible readership from adults to young adults and children.
1745 Broadway, New York, NY 10019
212-782-9000
http://www.randomhouse.com
Divisions:
Random House Information Group
Fodor's Travel Publications is comprised of the Fodor's Book Group and Fodors.com. It is the largest English-language travel information publisher in the world, providing travelers with the very best in travel guides. Offering more than 440 guides to destinations worldwide, Fodor's has been a leader in the travel publishing industry for over 60 years, and it continues to enjoy rapid growth through aggressive travel book marketing, a series of enterprising line extensions, and new ventures.
The Random House Publishing Group
The flagship imprint of Random House, Inc., the Random House Publishing Group originated in 1925 when Bennett Cerf and Donald Klopfer, two New Yorkers in their mid-twenties, acquired a line of classics and contemporary American works called The Modern Library from publisher Horace Liveright. The company assumed the name Random House in 1927, when Cerf and Klopfer decided to publish a few books on the side, "at random." Their artist-friend Rockwell Kent drew his now celebrated logo of a random house, which made its debut in February l927. Among the first titles of the new imprint were limited editions illustrated by Kent of Voltaire's Candide and Melville's Moby Dick.
Bantam Dell Publishing Group
Bantam Books, established in 1945, is one of the most successful publishers of adult fiction and nonfiction. In addition to being the nation's largest mass market paperback publisher, Bantam publishes a select yet diverse hardcover list, which includes the bestselling novelists Dean Koontz, Tom Robbins, Elizabeth George, Iris Johansen, Tami Hoag, Diane Mott Davidson, George R.R. Martin, Michael Palmer, and Luanne Rice.
Dell Publishing, a leading publisher of adult fiction and nonfiction for the past seven decades, is home to the bestselling female novelist of our time, Danielle Steel, who is published in Delacorte hardcover and Dell paperback. Dell also publishes the biggest-selling male novelist of the last decade, John Grisham, as a Dell paperback author.
1745 Broadway, New York, NY 10019
212-751-2600
Crown Publishing Group
The Crown Publishing Group originated in 1933 and is known for the broad scope of its publishing program and its singular market responsiveness; qualities that are reflected in its savvy selection of authors and books and in its aggressive efforts to market them.
1745 Broadway, New York, NY 10019
Doubleday Broadway Publishing Group
Doubleday's century of publishing began in 1897, when Frank Nelson Doubleday founded Doubleday & McClure Company in partnership with magazine publisher Samuel McClure. Among their first bestsellers was The Day's Work by Rudyard Kipling. While the alliance between Doubleday and McClure lasted only three years, a long and profitable friendship grew between Doubleday and Kipling, who, using Mr. Doubleday's initials, "F.N.D.," nicknamed him "effendi," the Turkish word for "chief"; this name remained with Doubleday for his entire career.
1745 Broadway, New York, NY 10019
212-751-2600
Knopf Publishing Group
Founded in 1915, Alfred A. Knopf is a publisher of distinguished hardcover fiction and nonfiction. Their authors include: Toni Morrison, John Updike, Cormac McCarthy, Alice Munro, Anne Rice, Anne Tyler, Jane Smiley, Richard Ford, Julia Child, Peter Carey, Kazuo Ishiguro, and Michael Ondaatje, as well as classic writers Thomas Mann, Willa Cather, John Hersey, and John Cheever.
1745 Broadway, New York, NY 10019
Random House Children's Books
Random House Children's Books is one of America's foremost publishers of quality literature for pre-school children through young adult readers in all formats from board books to picture books to novels. Random House Children's Books brings together world-famous franchise characters, multi-million copy series, and top-flight, award-winning authors and illustrators.
1745 Broadway, 10th Floor, New York, NY 10019
- Kids@Random RH Children's Books: http://www.randomhouse.com/kids
- Golden Books
- Beginner Books
- Disney Books for Young Readers
- First Time Books
- Landmark Books
- Picturebacks
- Sesame Workshop
- Step Into Reading
- Stepping Stone Books
Knopf Delacorte Dell Young Readers Group
- Website: http://www.randomhouse.com/kids
- Alfred A. Knopf
- Bantam
- Crown
- David Fickling Books
- Delacorte Press
- Doubleday
- Dragonfly
- Laurel-Leaf
- Schwartz & Wade Books
- Wendy Lamb Books
- Yearling Books
Waterbrook Multnomah
WaterBrook Press was launched in September 1996 as an autonomous evangelical religious publishing division of Random House, Inc. Since the release of their first books in February 1998, the publishing program has grown dramatically, and now includes such bestselling and well-respected authors as Kay Arthur, Jane Kirkpatrick, Liz Curtis Higgs, Steve Arterburn, Michelle McKinney Hammond and Charlie Peacock.
12265 Oracle Boulevard, Suite 200, Colorado Springs, CO 80921
719-590-4999 Fax: 719-590-8977
Website: http://www.waterbrookpress.com
E-mail: info@waterbrookpress.com
RH Direct, Inc.
Random House Audio Publishing Group
Website: http://www.randomhouse.com/audio/
2. CBS CORPORATION
CBS Corporation was formed in 2005, after its parent company Viacom split into two separate, publicly traded corporations. Today, CBS Corp. has operations in virtually every field of media and entertainment, including broadcast television (CBS and UPN), local television (CBS Television Stations Group), television production and syndication (CBS Paramount Television and King World), cable television (Showtime and CSTV Networks), radio (CBS Radio), advertising on out-of-home media (CBS Outdoor), publishing (Simon & Schuster), theme parks (Paramount Parks), digital media (CBS Digital Media Group and CSTV Networks) and consumer products (CBS Consumer Products).
In Fall 2006, UPN will cease operations and The CW, a new fifth broadcast television network, will launch as a joint venture between Warner Bros. Entertainment and CBS Corporation.
51 West 52 Street
New York, New York 10019-6188
Website: http://www.cbscorporation.com
U.S. BOOK PUBLISHERS CBS CORPORATION OWNS:
Simon & Schuster, Inc.
Simon & Schuster, Inc. is a global leader in the field of general interest publishing, providing consumers worldwide with a diverse range of quality books and multimedia products across a wide variety of genres and formats. It is the publishing operation of CBS Corporation, one of the world's premier media companies.
Simon & Schuster, Inc. Timeline:
1924 - Richard L. (Dick) Simon and M. Lincoln (Max) Schuster found the company that still bears their names with no employees, no authors, no manuscripts, and no sales. Their first project, a crossword puzzle book, with a first printing of 3,600 copies and a retail price of $1.35 each (including an attached pencil), is a phenomenal success.
1925 - Simon & Schuster becomes the first publisher to offer booksellers the privilege of returning unsold copies for credit--a practice that revolutionizes the book business.
1930 - Hired in the company's first year, Leon Shimkin becomes an equal partner, where his talent and ambition in business soon establish him as the "third S" at Essandess.
1939 - Simon, Schuster, and Shimkin pioneer the American mass market paperback when they team with Robert Fair de Graff to launch Pocket Books. Priced at 25 cents, with a bespectacled kangaroo named Gertrude as its logo, these pocket-sized paperback reprints of classics and bestsellers are an instant success.
1943 - Hitching their wagon to a stork, the three S's launch a new Simon & Schuster subsidiary--Little Golden Books. Combining educational content and four-color art at 25 cents a copy, the titles are immediate bestsellers.
1944 - Simon & Schuster and Pocket Books are sold to Marshall Field for an estimated $3 million, after the heir to the Chicago merchandising fortune makes an informal offer to Dick Simon.
1945 - Pocket Books publishes the first "instant book," FRANKLIN DELANO ROOSEVELT: A MEMORIAL, just six days after the President's death.
1957 - Marshall Field dies and Simon, Schuster and Shimkin buy back Simon & Schuster, while Shimkin and James M. Jacobson acquire Pocket Books. Dick Simon retires later that year and Max Schuster and Leon Shimkin become equal partners.
1958 - Simon & Schuster sells its share of Golden Books to Western Publishing.
1959 - Washington Square Press is acquired by Pocket Books.
1960 - Richard L. Simon dies.
1961 - Pocket Books goes public with Shimkin holding 46 percent of the stock.
1966 - Max Schuster retires. Leon Shimkin acquires Schuster's shares in the company and merges Simon & Schuster and Pocket Books, renaming the company Simon & Schuster, Inc.
1970 - M. Lincoln Schuster dies.
1975 - Leon Shimkin sells Simon & Schuster, Inc. to Gulf + Western, and retires.
1984 - Simon & Schuster begins a period of intense acquisition, purchasing more than 60 companies, including Prentice-Hall.
1986 - Simon & Schuster Audio is launched.
1988 - Leon Shimkin dies. - Pocket Books begins publishing hardcover books.
1989 - Gulf + Western restructures and becomes Paramount Communications.
1994 - Simon & Schuster acquires Macmillan Publishing Company. - Viacom Inc. acquires Paramount Communications - Simon & Schuster Interactive is created.
1996 - Simon & Schuster Online is launched.
1998 - Simon & Schuster Education, International, Professional and Reference Groups sold to Pearson plc. Simon & Schuster Inc. is now made up of the international divisions Simon & Schuster UK and Simon & Schuster Australia, and four U.S. divisions: Pocket Books, S&S Children's Publishing, S&S New Media, and S&S Trade.
2000 - With the publication of Stephen King's RIDING THE BULLET, Simon & Schuster's Scribner imprint becomes the first publisher to offer an original work by a major author exclusively in electronic format.
2001 - Simon & Schuster publishes JOHN ADAMS by David McCullough which becomes a #1 New York Times best-seller and hits other national lists garnering critical acclaim. It goes on to win the Pulitzer Prize for biography with over 1.5 million hardcover copies in-print.
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