RWA Signs Letter to DoJ Opposing Simon & Schuster Acquisition

RWA joined the Open Markets Institute, the Authors Guild, and other writers associations in a letter urging the Department of Justice not to approve Bertelsmann's acquisition of Simon & Schuster, a deal that "would bring well more than half of key U.S. book markets under the control of a single corporation, which poses a variety of potential threats to freedom of speech and democracy in the United States."

The letter also calls for the Department of Justice to "proactively restructure the entire U.S. market for books in ways that also deal with the danger posed by Amazon. In this way alone will the Department fulfill its mission of protecting the interest of the public as a whole, and of every reader and author in the United States, from dangerous concentrations of power and control over America’s authors, editors, booksellers, and readers, and over public debate itself."

Read more about this effort and find the full text of the letter at https://www.authorsguild.org/industry-advocacy/authors-groups-raise-concerns-over-prh-and-ss-merger-in-letter-to-doj/