Random House Merges with Penguin Putnam – To be called Penguin Random House. Bertelsmann (the parent company of Random House) will own 53%, and Pearson (the parent company of Penguin) 47%. This is major news if it goes through to create the Big Five (no longer the Big Six). It will have little impact on the Christian market since Penguin was highly selective in their Christian book acquisitions and never created a full blow imprint (although they did try for a while with something called Penguin Praise).
Read the Bertelsmann Press Release.
Read the Pearson Press Release.

Faulkner Quote in a Movie Sparks a Copyright Lawsuit – “Sony Pictures Classics and a group of unnamed movie exhibitors have been sued by the owners of the rights to the literary works of the late William Faulkner because a quote from one of his books was used by Woody Allen in the hit 2011 movie Midnight In Paris.” (?????)

5 Facts About Publishing That Could Change Your Writing Career – Jeff Goins strikes to the heart with some solid advice.

An Industry in Turmoil – Christine Bronstein tells of the demise of Borders and the reasons behind her decision to self-publish.

How to Get a Job in Publishing – I’m grateful for this article by Brooklyn Arden. To get the full picture read her earlier article “How Do I Become a Book Editor?” Now you have a place you can send those who ask you these questions!

Debating Ten Ways to Save the Publishing Industry – Read the original posts mentioned in this article to see a couple smart people debate solutions. Colin Robinson ends with:

“The point I’m making is that, though publishing must radically reform the way it publishes in order to take more chances with what it publishes, systemic change will never replace the need for intelligent, creative work in selecting and developing books. That’s why publishing remains an often joyful occupation.”