In a letter sent to its members on Sunday, the Authors Guild weighed in on the forthcoming merger between Penguin and Random House, calling the impending creation of a megapublisher "unsettling." The Guild said the merger should receive "close scrutiny from antitrust officials" and that, despite the reasons both publishers have given for the deal, the driving force is likely "the ongoing restructuring of the book industry."
Author Guild president, author Scot Turow, told members that: "Survival of the largest appears to be the message here." He continued that while joining Penguin and Random House will give the new company greater leverage against retailers, it will do so "at a high cost for the literary market and therefore for readers."
