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May 10, 2005
One less independent?
The tech book market has been brutal the last few years, so maybe it's inevitable that we're seeing another big acquisition.
Word has it John Wiley & Sons is purchasing Sybex, and I gather the sale will close at the end of the month. This is probably good news for Sybex authors who will probably get more marketing support and better access to the retail sales channel, but I'm sure it will result in some layoffs at Sybex and it will be sad to see another independent publisher (not to mention computer book pioneer, Rodnay Zaks) leave the scene.
Wiley has proven to be very smart at buying companies when the time and the price are right. Let's see what happens next. I just talked to one Sybex author who said "consolidation is a good step toward getting this industry back on track." I think a healthy dose of innovation and continued great work by smaller publishers is another critical element.
Posted by matt at May 10, 2005 10:56 AM
Comments
What's your opinion about APress?
Posted by: Simson L. Garfinkel at May 10, 2005 3:22 PM
I haven't worked with APress much at all, but I have great respect for Gary Cornell.
I represented Donna Baker's APress title, Adobe Acrobat 6: A Professional User's Guide, but that was published while they assimilated a huge number of Wrox titles, and I felt like the book was lost in the shuffle some. (Donna is a wonderful author btw in case any acq. editors read this. She's with Waterside if you'd like to get in touch with her).
I would be happy to hear about any author experiences.
Posted by: matt at May 11, 2005 7:10 AM