Lucky for some

In the debate that inevitably follows publication of the Booker longlist, there’s one detail worth highlighting here. Of the 13 titles selected by the judges, just two are published by imprints of Penguin Random House UK—Oh William! by Elizabeth Strout (Viking) and Glory by NoViolet Bulawayo (Chatto & Windus). Last year PRH UK boasted of six books on the longlist, four on the shortlist, and emerged as publisher of the winning book.

By contrast with 2021, it is independent publishers that outnumber the rest, with Faber (two), Saraband, Galley Beggar Press, Sort of Books, Serpent’s Tail, Bloomsbury Circus and Influx Press having the collective edge over imprints Fourth Estate, Picador (two) and the PRH pair.

We privilege independence in this business—few regard it as good publishing when a corporate dominates a prize list, few regard it as anything but when indies do. In fact, one could sense a mood-lift from the moment the Booker dozen were revealed. “Form is a preoccupation of the 13-strong selection, which highlights books from small presses,” wrote Justine Jordan of the Guardian. For the Telegraph, “the Booker Prize has finally regained its credibility”. “Utterly curious,” pronounced the Times’ literary editor.

For as long as I have been at The Bookseller the big publishers have got bigger with no obvious detriment to the overall marketplace, or to the health of the indie sector

In one respect at least, you could argue that the Booker judges have done PRH a favour. In the US on 1st August, lawyers acting for the publisher will lock horns with those representing the Department of Justice (DoJ) in a case that will do much to determine the future direction of the global books business. Judge Florence Pan will hear the DoJ’s lawyers argue that PRH’s deal for America’s third-biggest trade publisher Simon & Schuster would gift PRH and its parent Bertelsmann an “outsized influence over who and what is published”. In turn, those acting for PRH will counter that the deal will further incentivise competition in an already contested field for big titles.

For as long as I have been at The Bookseller the big publishers have got bigger with no obvious detriment to the overall marketplace, or to the health of the indie sector (as evidenced in fact by this week’s author interview). Indeed, as I have argued before, publishing today looks healthier precisely because of this outsized influence. When staff wish to have their pay concerns addressed—as our Lead Story suggests they soon will—it will be the big publishers who are expected to step up, and whose decisions will set the agenda followed by others.

My point is not that PRH’s dominance should go unexamined, but that any discussion over size should also challenge our own preconceptions. I doubt Judge Pan will get much time to read the Booker longlist over the summer. Should she choose to though, she will discover that of the 13 titles selected, five are published in the States by imprints of PRH US, and one by S&S list Scribner. Two more are published by other corporates, while two are as yet unpublished. A minority are published by US indies. Does the list now feel less curious and credible because, as it turns out, most of the authors owe their deals to the corporates? Let’s hope not.