An Opportunity for Simon & Schuster

finding their footing post-acquisition

My first Substack! Wow, this is exciting :) Thank you for being here and taking the time to read my writing. It’s only fitting for me to start my Substack with my thoughts on the KKR acquisition of Simon & Schuster, because not only is it industry-related, but it’s also directly linked to my career journey and expertise.

For context, I used to be an employee of Simon & Schuster, and genuinely loved my time working there. I left on my own terms, because unlike the publishing industry which we know to be a slow-moving machine, I tend to be an early adapter and was interested in pursuing a career in digital marketing, before that was available in-house. I’ll do a separate post one day about my career trajectory.

Let’s get right into it. In early August (2023), private equity firm KKR acquired Simon & Schuster from Paramount for $1.62 billion. Slate published this interview with Pete Stavros, KKR’s co-head of global private equity about the acquisition in September. There’s a lot to unpack, but the quote below is what I want to focus on today:

Book publishing is a hit-driven business, and people don’t really know what’s going to sell. I don’t think it’s practically achievable to say all we’re going to do now is hits, because everyone wants to do that, and no one knows how to do it. I think the key to being successful is going to be making it so the best editors and the best writers want to work with Simon & Schuster. And that needs to be a balance of “We’re bringing important works to the world” and “We’re trying to be a profitable, growing business.”

It is my firm opinion that excitement over this acquisition is not the trending reaction. Pete’s words above add to the confusion about whether KKR is genuinely interested in what’s best for the authors of S&S, or its bottom line.

While it’s every publisher’s dream to have a front list of hits every Tuesday, that dream is far from the reality of the industry. In fact, backlist titles bring in 80% of book sales—not the new releases. Oftentimes, a hit is a hit because an author has clout.

Dear S&S: if you start only publishing celebrity and influencer titles because of my clout comment I will cry. The truth is, you have the opportunity to add clout to any author, if you put your time to it.

So with this in mind, imagine if Pete and KKR used this acquisition as an opportunity to recenter around author-reader connectivity? They can start by:

• nurturing the authors that already exist within the legacy of S&S, ensuring they’re happy enough with this new arrangement to stay.

• helping both the backlist and the debut authors market themselves to start conversations around their personal libraries (published and in the works).

• investing in creative and alternative initiatives to bring S&S to the forefront of author-reader connectivity.

Now of course, it’s going to take some time for us to see how this will actually play out, but I know one thing for sure: as the new kid on the block, KKR is going to have to build some trust and prove they can hang.

Agree, disagree? I’d love to hear your thoughts.