THE CAREER NOVELIST
History shows that the aftermath of these mergers can be devas-
tating. One day in 1990, the enormous U.K. publishing corporation
Penguin (itself owned by Pearson) wiped out its 137-year-old U.S.
subsidiary E. P. Dutton, except for its children's division. Twenty
people were fired by the hatchet man, New American Library chief
Robert Diforio, who was himself told a few days later that his con-
tract would not be renewed. Dutton survives today as a hardcover
imprint linked to the NAL imprint Signet, but it is a pale shadow of
its former self. And there is worse.
The economic downturn of the early nineties led to some whole-
sale slaughter. In 1990 McGraw Hill cut one thousand jobs from its
payroll. The same year Simon & Schuster, which was digesting
Prentice Hall, announced a $140 million pretax write-off against
earnings. A few of the most sinister events of that downturn
occurred at the top; for example, the long-time CEO of Random
House, gentlemanly Robert Bernstein, was forced into retirement
and replaced by Bantam's aggressive Alberto Vitale.
Random House was the focus of another controversy in 1990.
Andre Schiffrin, the managing director of the highly acclaimed hard-
cover publisher Pantheon, was forced out. Four top editors resigned
in protest. Editors and authors, outraged in advance over the
expected decimation of a distinguished list, took up signs and pick-
eted Random House's headquarters on East 50th Street.
All over our industry, once-proud publishers have been reduced
to imprints. Imprints are blending together in the corporate soup.
Editors are on edge. Their eyes are being forced to the bottom line.
Despite that, many titles take huge returns because people out
there do not want to read them. Everyone in the industry says, "It
isn't like it was in the old days."
I do not need to tell you what all this means for the career nov-
elist: nothing good. Sure, you may think, but I am okay. I write fan-
tasy (or romance, or mystery, or whatever). Mega-mergers have
nothing to do with me.
Really? Well, let us take science fiction as our example. There are
ten publishers who are sufficiently experienced, big, stable, solvent,
and smart enough for me to place my clients' work with them. All ten
are either owned by, affiliated with, or distributed by a huge pub-