FILE – PEN Literary Service Award recipient Stephen King attends the 2018 PEN Literary Gala at the American Museum of Natural History on May 22, 2018 in New York City. King is expected to speak at a federal antitrust trial in Washington. King must testify for the Department of Justice as he tries to block the proposed merger of two of the world’s largest publishers, Penguin Random House and Simon & Schuster. (Photo by Evan Agostini/Invision/AP, File)
Evan Agostini/Invision/AP
WASHINGTON
As the Justice Department tries to convince a federal judge that the proposed merger of Penguin Random House and Simon & Schuster would harm the careers of some of the most popular authors, it relies in part on the testimony of a writer who flourished like few others: Stephen King.
Author of “Carrie”, “The Shining” and many other favorites, King willingly, even impatiently, opposed Simon & Schuster, his longtime publisher. He was chosen by the government not just for his fame, but for his public criticism of the $2.2 billion deal announced at the end of 2021, joining two of the world’s biggest publishers in what rival CEO Michael Pietsch of Hachette Book Group called it a “gigantic” entity.
“The more publishers consolidate, the harder it is for independent publishers to survive,” King tweeted last year.
One of the few widely recognizable authors known for his modestly sized glasses and gaunt features, King is set to take the witness stand Tuesday, the second day of a federal antitrust trial scheduled for the past two to three weeks.
He may not have the business knowledge of Pietsch, the DOJ’s first witness, but he’s been a published novelist for almost 50 years and knows well how much the industry has changed: some of his former editors have been acquired by larger companies. “Carrie,” for example, was published by Doubleday, which in 2009 merged with Knopf Publishing Group, and is now part of Penguin Random House. Another former King publisher, Viking Press, was a Penguin brand that joined Penguin Random House when Penguin and Random House merged in 2013.
King’s affinity for small publishers is personal. While continuing to publish with Scribner, publisher Simon & Schuster, he wrote thrillers for the independent Hard Case Crime. Years ago, the publisher asked him to contribute a blurb, but King instead offered to write a novel for them, “The Colorado Kid,” released in 2005.
“Inside, I was doing cartwheels,” Hard Case co-founder Charles Ardai recalled thinking when King contacted him.
King himself would likely benefit from the Penguin Random House-Simon & Schuster deal, but he’s used to prioritizing other priorities beyond his material well-being. He has long been critical of tax cuts for the rich, even though “the rich” surely include Stephen King, and has openly called on the government to raise taxes.
“In America, we should all pay our fair share,” he wrote for The Daily Beast in 2012.
On Monday, lawyers for both sides offered contrasting views on the book industry. Government lawyer John Read cited a dangerously thin market, tightly controlled by the “Big Five” – Penguin Random House, Simon & Schuster, HarperCollins Publishing, Macmillan and Hachette – with little chance for smaller publishers or starting to drill.
Lawyer Daniel Petrocelli argued for the defense that the industry was in fact diverse, profitable and open to newcomers. Publishing does not only mean the Big Five, but also mid-sized companies such as WW Norton & Co. and Grove Atlantic. The merger, he argued, would in no way upset the ambitions so many people have for literary success.
“Every book begins as an expected bestseller in the glint of an author’s or publisher’s eye,” he said.