Publishers Do It, Literary Agencies Do It, Even Educated Fleas Do It

Let's do it, let's fall in merger.

Much has been made of the merging that is consolidating the publishing industry, now down to five major houses that are themselves the product of mergers over the years. Is it good or bad, the industry insiders ask, is it of a benefit or a long-term detriment, will there be fewer good works of literature appearing and are we entering the era of the blockbuster smash bit of drivel that won't be taught in literature classes one hundred years from now?

While all this has been happening, some literary agencies are consolidating as well, combining forces to become leaders in the industry. A leader in the industry, of course, can pick and choose its clients and negotiate huge contracts (at the standard commission rate for the agent) for those mega-blockbuster bits of drivel.

Folio Literary Management is itself a product of merging. Principal Paige Wheeler used to run a place called Creative Media before she joined forces with Scott Hoffman and they sprang Folio Lit on the world. While they and their fellow agents are hard at work representing manuscripts that they believe can sell, they are also business people who recognize that a business has to grow if the profits are to keep rolling in.

Folio has sucked Literary Group International into its orbit. Like any well-known agency, it also has a stable of writers who create works of fiction or non-fiction that sell well. It is a good acquisition for Folio, and it obviously makes sense for LGI or the merger would not have gone through.

Two agencies merged together means fewer support staff to manage the office chores. One receptionist, a few less office managers, a little less paperwork....it all adds up to savings that turn into profits that the partners get to pocket. Who wouldn't want a bigger Christmas bonus?

Is it better for writers, if there is one less agency competing for their work? Probably not.

But the industry itself is less friendly to writers who aren't producing those blockbuster bits of drivel. To fill that niche, small publishers have sprung up to replace the small publishers who were gobbled up over the years in a series of mergers that have resulted in the Big Five. Those small publishers, however, don't pay big advances and so the representing literary agent doesn't get a big commission for all the work involved in getting a publishing contract.

A part of the industry is heading towards super-sizing, with big agencies picking up big authors who will make their names largely on their own, through success in the other part of the industry that is leaning towards small and compact. And not particularly profitable.