I just recently read an article about Overdrive and KKR, the company that bought both Overdrive and now this publisher. It was a really disheartening read for what’s happening in the books market.

Article: https://karawynn.substack.com/p/the-coming-enshittification-of-public-libraries

This is the best summary I could come up with:

The deal with investor KKR marks the likely end of a years-long saga for owner Paramount Global, which had been looking for a buyer for the book company since 2020.

Titles released since include Dale Carnegie’s How to Win Friends and Influence People; Joseph Heller’s military satire Catch-22 and best-selling mysteries by Stephen King.

KKR, which counts digital books platform Overdrive among its earlier investments, said it saw an opportunity to expand the company’s distribution “across mediums and markets”.

Author Stephen King was among the big names to testify against the sale on behalf of the US government, which has taken a harder line on competition under US President Joe Biden.

But on Monday, the boss of Paramount Global, Bob Bakish, said in a statement that the money raised by Simon & Schuster’s sale would give the entertainment firm greater “financial flexibility”.

It reported an overall loss after ad sales at its TV networks fell by 10% and the firm couldn’t follow up with a film that was as big as Top Gun: Maverick last year.

I’m a bot and I’m open source!