Random House and Penguin publishing are in talks to combine forces, according to Manager Magazin of Germany. In the ever-changing publishing industry, is it wise for two of the six major houses to become one?

If Random House and Penguin were to join forces it would change the face of publishing and give them more power to bargain in the world of digital media, which is slowly taking a toll on the traditional publishing industry. Random House is the largest book publisher in the U.S. and one of the only major houses to not be named in the price fixing lawsuit from the Department of Justice. The combining of two large houses is reminiscent of what the music industry did after iTunes and digital media took over.

While the combining of houses may sound good to the average reader, industry insiders feel that this will only damage the publishing industry more. When speaking to The New York Times, literary agent David Kuhn stated, “If there are 20 fewer imprints, then that means there are 20 fewer publishers with checkbooks willing to make bets on less known entities.” David McQuivey, a media researcher at Forester Research, also spoke with The New York Times. Said McQuivey, “The need to get some kind of grip on the future of book publishing is driving every single one of these top six publishers in often unconventional ways.”

The merger would require government approval and is still in the early talks; however, will the merger be enough to take on the ever-powerful Amazon and digital media? If the merger occurs and less imprints are available to query untried authors, they are likely to go the self-publishing route, which is already seeing its popularity grow. In fact, the newest trend is for publishing houses to pick up popular self-published books like Amanda Houcking’s Trylle series, Colleen Houck’s Tiger’s Curse series, and of course, the Fifty Shades of Grey series. Will this be the way of the future for publishing?