“Publishing singularity” in action
Recent newsbreak: Random House is getting into television. Publishers Weekly reports that the publisher will team with FremantleMedia, the London-based television production and distribution company whose programs include The X Factor, The Price is Right, Deadliest Catch, and more. In the words of a press release, this partnership is:
a major new creative and strategic partnership to develop scripted television programming for the U.S. and international markets based on the fiction and nonfiction books published by Random House’s imprints in North America and internationally.
Random House already has a film division, Random House Films. Films to its credit include Revolutionary Road and One Day.
This news made me think of one of the ideas we’ve talked about here in the past—what our staff editor Lana Popovic calls “the publishing singularity.” To paraphrase, the publishing singularity is the idea that different media streams will converge, so that instead of having a publishing house and a film company and a television studio, all of these different formats would be housed under one greater media company.
And in the great uncertainty that is the publishing industry, it seems like a pretty smart move for Random House to get its fingers in visual media. Sure, book/TV/film tie-ins sound cool (Castle, anyone?), but I’m not sure that’s the only reason that having access to high-quality visuals are important. This opens possibilities for more book trailers, for enhanced ebooks with high-quality visual components, and more. And as a major author, wouldn’t you would be swayed by the dangling carrot of an in-house television division?
I’m curious to see where this television partnership will go. (The only thing that’s springing to my mind is Murder, She Wrote.) I’ve got my eye on you, Random House. Let’s see how this “publishing singularity” plays out.
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