Text Publishing is no longer independent. Again.
Established in Melbourne, Victoria, 1990, Text Publishing is an acclaimed small press that aims to make a difference and help people, as we say, 'get lost in books'.
It was founded by the notable Diana Gribble (late ABC and MSO Director) and Eric Beecher (Private Media, Crikey), alongside award-winning designer Chon Weng Ho and others. It became an independent press, officially, in 1994, at a time when Australia was regarded as a "place to distribute rather than publish books".
Text would go on to win Small Publisher of the Year by the Australian Book Industry Awards (ABIA) three times between 2012 and 2014. And, more recently, the Leading Edge Books Small Publisher of the Year award in both 2018 and 2019.
Early talent included Tim Flannery, The Chaser Team, and Hazel Hawke, and they've since become renowned for their award-winning publications. 2018 alone hauled in an absolute Awards Bonanza including the prestigious Colin Roderick Award. Among their latest best sellers, The Will of the Many by James Islington won Best Fantasy at the 2023 Aurealis Awards.
Penguin Random House's acquisition is not the first time Text Publishing has flirted with trad publishers.
But first, we need a little historical context.
Australia's Media of Few Players
Since at least the 1970s, Australia's media ownership has been one of the most concentrated markets in the world; Or, regarding newspapers, the most concentrated.
A report from the Centre for Policy Development (2011) described our situation as 'unusual...(when) compared to other liberal democracies." Numerous attempts to diversify competition by our government have failed—largely thanks to Rupert Murdoch.
In 1923, Australia had 26 metropolitan daily newspapers owned by 21 proprietors. By 1950s, that figure had nearly halved, and was reduced to just three companies by 1980: the Herald and Weekly Times Limited, Murdoch's News Limited, and the John Fairfax Group.
1987, Murdoch acquired the Herald and Weekly Times, after Whitlam called out their political bias, and seized 67% of Australia's media landscape.
In the next two years, Murdoch acquired two UK publishers: Harper & Row, and Collins, who, between them, held notable publications including Harper's Weekly and Harper's Bazaar, 'the Golden Age of Detective Fiction' authors including Agatha Christie, religious-fantasy author C S. Lewis, and the British Commonwealth distribution rights to popular American titles such as The Hardy Boys, Nancy Drew, and Dr Seuss.
He merged them to create HarperCollins.
Meanwhile, December 1990, back in OZ, Fairfax Media—Murdoch's only true competitor in the market—collapsed into receivership.
It took three years and two major shareholders to save it: Canadian newspaper magnate Conrad Black, with his Hollinger Group purchasing 25% (later sold to New Zealand corporate raider, Brieley Investments in 1996), and Australian media mogul Kerry Packer with his Publishing and Broadcasting Limited company buying-in with 15%.
1998, Rupert Murdoch also bought "a seat at the table" (1.7%) sparking rumours of a takeover.
Whether in retaliation to the gossip, to compete against Harper Collins, or just to patch the large deficit made by the internet stealing their 'river of gold' being 'classified ads', 2001, Fairfax sought after Text publishing.
And were knocked back.
They bought a 10.52% stake instead, bid their time, and tried again in 2003. This time they proved successful. However, short-lived.
The following year, long-term employees, and Husband and Wife duo, Michael Heyward and Penny Hueston, negotiated to buy back the small press, hoping to be independent once more. And, with the invested help of Edinburgh-based small press, CanonGate Books, succeeded.
Together they managed a fruitful partnership for seven years before Heyward and Hueston expressed their wish to make Text Publishing fully Australian again in 2011.
Lonely Planet founders, Maureen and Tony Wheeler, launched at the opportunity and bought out Canongate's share who were happy to devest and focus on their own home market.
Text Publishing was once more a fully independent Australian small publisher.
And, for the next two decades, they managed to keep themselves afloat with a long list of critical successes. Heyward only recently reflected that the company still felt like "the restless, impatient and disruptive company I plunged into, heart and soul, all those years ago".
But something in the past months must have shifted.
Just two days before their acquisition announcement, and after sixteen years of success, Text announced they were discontinuing their Text Prize.
The competition awarded its winner a $10,000 publishing contract and, since launching, had published nearly fifty books for the Young Adult and Middle-Grade demographic.
Text Publishing assured in their press release that they still accept these manuscripts through their unsolicited portal. But, it is arguably a loss to new authors.
Big Fish Eat Little Fish
Text's acquisition by Penguin Random House epitomises the continued foreign buy-out, and concentration of Australia's media market.
Since the pandemic, Australia has lost a significant number of independent publishers either through acquisition or mergers. Only last year we lost 2019's ABIA Small Publisher of the Year winner, Affirm Press, to U.S's Simon & Schuster and had the ABIA's 2023 Book of the Year publisher, Pantera Press absorbed by the larger Australian media company, Hardie Grant.
Advocacy body, Small Press Network (SPN), was also threatened with termination over the holiday period. A development called a "death knell for independent publishing" by ArtsHub, leaving many wondering just what's going on and anxious about the future.
September last year, award-winning Australian critic and writer, Catriona Menzies-Pike, warned America's aggressive corporate acquisitions in publishing will impact global markets after it was revealed 11 of the 20 books listed in America's 2024 National Book Awards were published by Penguin Random House or its imprints.
PRH is currently the largest book publisher in Australia, with a competitive revenue margin of nearly 40$million. It's no wonder they won last year's ABIA Publisher of the Year award.
But with Australia's anti-competitive history in the publishing space already deeply entrenched in our markets, these new foreign players threaten to block the few independent voices that still dare to stand out.
"Corporate consolidation is a threat to anyone who care about books. When there are fewer publishers, both large and small, there are fewer jobs, fewer opportunities for new voices to break out, fewer places where writers can be nurtured throughout their careers, fewer places willing to take risks on ideas that diverge from the mainstream." — Kreizman
At present, Menzies-Pikes describes our industry as a clear two-fold: The big publishers dominate our best sellers, but it is our independents that are over-represented in our critical top lists, such as The Conversation's Best Books of the 21st Century.
It's clear our best stories are written outside the major players. Maybe it's because small presses are able to allow greater creative freedom. Maybe they just greenlight more authentic and diverse stories. Maybe it's because authors want a partnership built on respect.
The current publishing workforce, dominated by the big players such as Penguin Random House, was descirbed as glum in a 2022 study by the Australian Publishers Association. They remarked on the notoriously low pay offered to authors and other industry members, how they fall short on diversity and inclusion, and the terrifying high rates of mental illness.
The exploitation of authors and their stories by the big players was the primary reason why Penguin Random House's bid for Simon & Schuster from Paramount Global was blocked by the U.S Department of Justice in 2021.
The Biden administration argued the deal would lead to less competition—as it would have concentrated over half the market in a Monopoly to PRH—and was concerned about new talent getting a raw deal. Thankfully, PRH chose not to appeal the decision.
But again, this aggressive acquisition model, arguably incited by Murdoch back in the 1930s when he first started gorging on competitors, only leads to monotone voices.
And Text Publishing, whether they maintain creative control as reported or not, are now part of the biggest fish in Australia—and we only have its fin in our pond.
We can only hope the new Government body, Writers Australia, will bring back diversity.
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