Thread by @EdNawotka

DOJvPRH: Good morning! Ed Snyder is back in the dock. DOJ asks about bid coordination internally at PRH and Judge Pan points out that Madeline McIntosh said she want's to curtail imprints bidding against each other and PRH has appointed an employee to monitor bids. #DOJvPRH

DOJvPRH: Judge Pan to Snyder: "[PRH] appointed something to coordinate bids internally. There is testimony to that effect. There are emails from different editors saying ‘let’s go up this amount or let’s all bid the same amount-- that doesn’t affect your analysis?" #DOJvPRH

DOJvPRH: First, sorry about the typos! Next, Snyder insists editors are highly competitive with each other, but - me here - this is such a narrow, high-profile part of the business. The most entrepreneurial editors groom their own authors, don't rely 100% on agents. #DOVvPRH

DOJvPRH: Court has gone down a strange rabbit hole, referencing external ebook coordination among the Big Six (RIP) on ebooks, with the DOJ floating the idea that an agreement could be reached that they won't "poach" authors from each other. Snyder: "Not possible." #DOJvPRH

DOJvPRH: DOJ is still on the "non-poaching" agreement track, which seems pointless, as this is never going to happen. Why are they discussing a hypothetical conspiracy? Snyder points out that if the Big Five agree not to poach, plenty of smaller pubs will. Happily! #DOJvPRH

DOJvPRH: DOJ to Snyder: "Do you believe there really are 1000-1,200 books acquired at the $250,000 level each year?" Snyder: That is the number we keep hearing, but we struggle between contracts and titles. I identified it as a source of messiness." DOJ validated this. #DOJvPRH

DOJvPRH: Dr. Hill's on the stand for the DOJ to rebutt Dr. Snyder's testimony: A few salient details: one of which is that non-Big 5 publishers have about 9% overall marketshare, and post-merger with Penguin, advances for ATS (anticipated top sellers) dropped $100,000k. #DOJvPRH

DOJvPRH: Hill: "The merger may have had a negative effect on advances for anticipated top-sellers." "There are limits PRH imprints can compete with one another." Hill then offered a sample of bids for a nonfic book from multi-PRH imprints that were identical in terms. #DOJvPRH

DOJvPRH: Hill favors publisher competition, not imprint competition, which he feels is not as robust, or even feasible. $1m+ contract is common for the Big 5. No threats: 75% of small/mid 21 pubs surveyed have never won contract over $175k, only 1 won over $225k #DOJvPRH

DOJvPRH: Hill: "Non Big Five have 9% market share and do see significant barriers to expansion and haven't significantly changed their marketshare. In aggregate, they are not a significant share of the market." #DOJvPRH

DOJvPRH: Snyder saw 13 pubs + share from 2019-2021, but stats didn't include PRH's share of the market. Hill: just 2 of 13 saw sustained growth in this period. #DOJvPRH

DOJvPRH: Back from lunch - Rueben sandwich and 3 Leches Cake (my fav). Hill is back on the stand for more, and is interpreting the bidding world, which he see's as being managed at Big5 to let multiple imprints bid, to give an author choice, but limit ext. competition. #DOJvPRH

DOJvPRH: Hill keeps referring to “Gross Upward Pricing Pressure Index” (GUPPI) or ΔPW/PW = [DWX(PX – CX) + DWXDXW(PW – CW)]/[2(1 – DWXDXW)PW] ref: tinyurl.com/ye29ryxr
(You are welcome!) #DOJvPRH