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What the Penguin/Random House merger really means

Michael Levin

When I saw the word “synergies” applied to the proposed merger of publishing giants Penguin and Random House, I laughed out loud.  “Synergies” is Wall Street-speak for “Let’s merge two failing companies, fire half the employees, run the resulting business more cheaply, suck out all the money we can as quickly as we can, and then leave the wounded, gasping beast that is the resulting company to die a miserable, public death.”

Which is exactly why “synergies” best describes the merger of two of the biggest names in the publishing industry, which is wringing its hands over the immediate consequences of this deal, which really represents one more death rattle of the once thriving book publishing trade.

Here’s what happens now:  lots of editorial, marketing, and other jobs will vanish.  Agents will have fewer places to sell books.  Fewer books will be published.  Authors will get even less money (if that’s even possible, since some publishers are paying zero advances whenever they can get away with it).  And the pontificators will pontificate on what it all means to society (not much, since most of society has already given up on reading books).

Here’s what happens next:  the remaining major publishers will find it harder to compete, because the resulting publisher (Penguin House?) will be able to produce books more cheaply.  So they’ll fire people, merge, fire more people, and eventually roll over and die.

All because publishers never figured out how to deal with the Internet and how to sell books in a wired world.

All because publishers considered themselves “special” and thought they could get away with selling products they didn’t market.

All because publishers are English majors wearing Daddy’s work clothes and pretending to be business people, running their businesses on whim and gut feeling instead of figuring out what people want and giving it to them, the way smart businesses work.

I have no pity for the fallen publishers.  In Wall Street terms, there isn’t enough lipstick in the world to make these pigs kissable.  They had the responsibility to shape society by providing it with books worth reading, to create a cultural legacy for our generation and generations to come.  And instead, what did they give us?

Ann Coulter, Navy SEALs, and Fifty Shades of Gray.

The publishers will blame everyone in sight for their predicament, but this is a self-inflicted wound; what the Brits would call an “own goal.”  

You can’t run a successful business passively waiting for people (in this case, literary agents) to tell you what you should produce.

You can’t run a successful business by throwing 10,000 strands of spaghetti (or 10,000 books a year, in Random House’s case) against the wall of public opinion and seeing what sticks.  

You can’t run a successful business selling information in the form of printed books by putting them on trucks to distant cities, hoping that booksellers (anyone who can fog a mirror, run a cash register and repeat the phrase, “We don’t have it but we could order it for you”) will actively work to sell your stuff to people.

Bottom line:  you can’t run a successful business when you are essentially competing with yourself.  If Barnes & Noble doesn’t sell a Simon & Schuster book within three weeks, it sends the book back to Simon & Schuster, at Simon & Schuster’s expense, only to have that same space on the shelf filled with…wait for it…a different Simon & Schuster book.

That’s not marketing.  

That’s masochism.

A New York editor who worked at Penguin once told me that his boss called all the employees into a meeting and said, “If there’s any merger talk, you’ll hear about it from me and not from the New York Times.”

A few days later, he was reading The New York Times on the subway on the way to work, and read that Penguin was merging with another publisher.

Here we go again.

If it weren’t for Fifty Shades of Gray, Random House (and Barnes & Noble, for that matter) would have been on life support.  There would have been nothing left to merge.

Penguin’s owner, Pearson LLC, is the smartest guy in the room, dumping off Penguin’s trade publishing on Bertlesmann, a German conglomerate which somehow still thinks it can make money selling books.

And now a few thousand more publishing employees are going to leave the world of books and hit the bricks.

So let the handwringing begin.  The collapse of a once proud industry has taken a giant step forward.  And there ain’t no synergies in that.

About the author:  New York Times best selling author and Shark Tank survivor Michael Levin runs www.BusinessGhost.com, and is a nationally acknowledged thought leader on the future of book publishing.

Bishop E.W. Jackson to Black Christians

Staff Report

A short message from Bishop E.W. Jackson to fellow black Christians about the evil being done by the Democrat party.

As one viewer wrote in response:
Unbelievable courage to make this video in the contentious political climate that is present in America today. It still boggles my mind how the liberal left denigrates black conservatives. It is unfortunate we cannot have a civil political discussion without name-calling those with whom there is disagreement. He is certainly right when he says, "We don’t need the Democratic Party, we don’t need the Republican Party, we need God!"

Click here to watch the video message from Bishop Jackson. 

Wounded Warrior’s buck sets McAlester Army plant record

Staff Report

For Quinton Picone, 23, a native of nearby Panola, first times seem to be the charm. At least first-time hunting trips, that is.

On his first deer hunt Oct. 12 on the 45,000-acre McAlester Army Ammunition Plant, Picone harvested a nine-point buck that weighed just shy of 200 pounds on the hoof and dressed out at 175 pounds.

The buck set a new base record for the heaviest deer taken on the property, and Picone’s name now will appear first on that list.

"It was crazy. It was pretty exciting," said Picone, who was deer hunting through the Wounded Warriors in Action program along with two other Army buddies from Fort Sam Houston in San Antonio. This was the fourth year that Army and Oklahoma Department of Wildlife Conservation staff members have hosted a group of Wounded Warriors at the controlled deer hunt.

Picone’s fellow Army buddies Stephen Peterson and Roger Benton also took nice bucks over the weekend. And Picone was able to take a doe on the second day of the hunt.

Picone and Peterson are both undergoing rehabilitation after being wounded while serving in Afghanistan. Picone lost both his lower legs and suffered wounds to his right hand due to an Improvised Explosive Device in 2011, while Peterson lost one leg to an IED in 2010. Benton is their platoon sergeant and was awarded a Purple Heart for wounds he suffered in his Army service.

Hunting at the McAlester Army plant was a homecoming for Picone. His parents, Vincent and Sherry Picone, reside in McAlester, and his father actually is employed at the plant. When he learned about the hunting opportunity through his dad, Quinton Picone said he thought it would be a fun thing to try.

On the morning of his first hunt, Picone and his volunteer hunting assistant Michael Marlow set up in a special hydraulic lift blind designed for physically disabled hunters. A bit more than an hour later, the record-setting buck appeared about 15 yards in front of them.

After a tense few minutes waiting for a best possible shot, Picone fired his crossbow and scored a lethal hit as the buck moved toward the blind.

Picone’s base-record deer made an impression on Bill Starry, the plant’s natural resources chief who oversees one of Oklahoma’s most sought-after deer hunting opportunities each year.

"It couldn’t have happened to a better bunch," Starry said of the soldiers’ hunting success.

Starry praised the Wounded Warriors program for giving heroic war veterans an opportunity to experience deer and turkey hunting trips, despite their physical setbacks. He said it takes a lot of effort to organize the Wounded Warrior hunts, but "it’s a good thing and well worth it."

Picone said first-time hunts seem to be lucky for him. He said the first time he went duck hunting, he shot a mallard and found that it carried a leg band – a rare bird indeed.

Controlled deer hunts are held seven weekends each year at the Army’s bomb-making and storage facility, a place known for its abundant population of trophy whitetails. These hunts are among many controlled hunts offered statewide by the Wildlife Department every year. More than 20,000 hunters entered a lottery for hunt permits at the plant this year, but only 1,500 names were drawn. All but one of these hunts are traditional archery hunts, and the average success rate is about 13 percent.

Col. Timothy Beckner, the base commander, praised the Wounded Warrior program. "It’s great when the community and the nation can join together and help them out," he said. "Quinton is a great kid. What a great attitude."

This year marked the 50th anniversary of cooperation between the Army and the Wildlife Department in holding deer hunts at the ammunition plant. Col. Beckner said the hunts are true examples of how government lands are being used for public benefit, and in this case, more than 50,000 deer hunters have benefited over a half-century.

"There’s no doubt in my mind that deer hunting here is going to have at least another 50-year run," Col. Beckner said.

Absentee ballot request deadline

Staff Report

Wednesday, October 31 at 5:00 p.m. is the deadline for Oklahoma’s registered voters to request an absentee ballot from election officials if they do not wish or will be unable to vote in-person November 6 at their assigned polling place.

“If you plan to vote in the general election by absentee ballot, you must submit an absentee ballot application to election officials by next Wednesday, October 31 at 5:00 p.m.,” said State Election Board Secretary Paul Ziriax. “Otherwise, your remaining options will be either to vote early at your county election board location on November 2, 3, or 5—or in-person at your regular polling place on November 6,” Ziriax explained.

“Nearly 32,000 Oklahomans have already cast their ballots for the November 6 General Election, and demand for absentee ballots continues to be very strong,” Ziriax said. “As of 11:00 a.m. on October 26, county election boards statewide have distributed a total of 66,010 absentee ballots, and Oklahomans have returned 31,653 voted absentee ballots to election officials,” Ziriax added.

Absentee ballot application forms are available at all county election board offices statewide and online at http://elections.ok.gov.

Completed absentee ballot applications must be submitted to the county election board in the county where a voter is registered to vote. Addresses and fax numbers for all 77 county election board offices are available on the above website.

In order to be counted, voted absentee ballot affidavits must be notarized and returned either by postal mail or private delivery service to the voter’s county election board and received by 7 p.m. on November 6. Absentee ballot affidavits from physically incapacitated voters must be signed by two witnesses and returned to the voter’s county election board by the same time and date.

More information about absentee ballots, and answers to other common election-related questions, can be found online at the State Election Board’s website: http://elections.ok.gov.

Muzzleloader season kick off

Staff Report

Oklahoma is rich with big game hunting opportunity ranging from black bear and antelope to elk and mule deer.

But the whitetail deer still represents the most popular and widely
available big game hunting opportunity in Oklahoma, with archery season
underway and muzzleloader season began Oct. 27.

Muzzleloader season runs Oct. 27 – Nov. 4, and the season accounts
for about 18 percent of the total annual deer harvest in Oklahoma.
During muzzleloader season, hunters can harvest a buck and two antlerless deer (at least one antlerless deer must be harvested from Antlerless Deer Zones 2, 7 or 8), and most of the state is open to antlerless hunting every day during the season. Resident muzzleloader hunters must possess an appropriate hunting license and a deer muzzleloader license for each deer harvested. Nonresident muzzleloader hunters are exempt from a hunting license while hunting deer, but they must possess a nonresident deer muzzleloader license. For a map of Oklahoma’s antlerless deer zones, consult the current "Oklahoma Hunting Guide" available online at wildlifedepartment.com.

Muzzleloader hunters must conspicuously wear both a head covering and an outer garment above the waistline, both totaling at least 400 square inches of hunt orange.

Upon harvesting a deer, all hunters must immediately attach their name, license number, and date and time of harvest securely to the animal. This "field tag," which can be constructed of anything (such as a business card), must remain attached to the carcass until it is checked either at the nearest hunter check station, with an authorized Wildlife Department employee or online at www.wildlifedepartment.com.

In many counties, hunters can harvest a turkey with their muzzleloaders Nov. 3-4. A fall turkey license is required, unless exempt. Turkey fall gun season runs Nov. 3-16, and details for the season are available in the current "Oklahoma Hunting Guide."

Hunters that are 10 years old and older who have not completed their hunter education course can do so completely online at www.wildlifedepartment.com. Upon successfully completing the course, hunters can print their hunter education card and purchase any license.

Hunters age 8-30 who have not completed a hunter education course can buy an apprentice-designated hunting license and hunt while accompanied by an adult hunter 18 years old or older who is licensed and hunter-education-certified or exempt. Exemptions from hunter ed requirements include those 31 years old or older, those honorably discharged or currently active in the Armed Forces or members of the National Guard). All hunters under 10 years old must be accompanied when hunting big game, including those who have completed a hunter education course.

The modern gun season opens Nov. 17 and runs for 16 days. Archery season remains open through Jan. 15, 2013.

For specific information regarding which wildlife management areas are open to muzzleloader season, licenses, season limits, legal firearms or other details, consult the current "Oklahoma Hunting Guide" available free online at www.wildlifedepartment.com or in print anywhere hunting licenses are sold.