The enormous consolidation of publishing houses over recent years is illustrated by the following listing of publishing groups. We can't hazard a guess as to what percentage of the world English language book market is sold by these publishing groups, but the 80%/20% economic dictum usually applies; in this case 80% of world sales coming from 20% of publishers could not only apply, it could even be more extreme. Greenhill limbo dances below any recognition barrier. HarperCollins (part of News Corporation) HarperCollins (UK), Flamingo, Fount, Fontana, Thorsons, Lion, Times, Batholomew. Also HarperCollins (USA), Zondervan, Basic (USA). Hodder Headline Hodder & Stoughton, Headline, Arnold, Coronet, Sceptre, New English Library, Teach Yourself. Time Warner Little Brown, Warner, Abacus, Orbit, Virago, Libris, Also Little, Brown & Co, Warner Books, Time Life (USA). Holtzbrinck Macmillan, Pan, Picador, Papermac, Sidgwick & Jackson, Macmillan Heinemann ELT, Boxtree (71% owned by Holtzbrinck). Also St Martin's Press, Farrar, Strauss & Giroux and Henry Holt (USA). Orion (Private company 70% owned by Hachette of France) Orion, Weidenfeld & Nicolson, Cassell, Dent, Phoenix, Gollancz, Everyman Paperbacks, Indigo, Arms & Armour, Blandford. Pearson Penguin, Puffin, Viking, Hamish Hamilton, Michael Joseph, Allen Lane, Ladybird, Longman, Addison-Wesley, Oliver & Boyd, Prentice Hall, Harvester Wheatsheaf. Also Viking, Penguin, Putnam, Dutton, Berkley (USA). Bertelsmann Random House, Cape, Chatto, Vintage, Pimlico, Secker & Warburg, Bodley Head, Century, Heinemann, Hutchinson, Methuen, Red Fox, Ebury, Barrie & Jenkins, Rider, Arrow, Fodor, Vermillion, Transworld, Bantam, Doubleday, Corgi, Black Swan, Anchor, Partridge, Expert Also Random House, Knopf, Crown, Pantheon, Ballantine, Fodor, Bantam Doubleday, Dell (USA). Reed Elsevier Butterworth, Heinemann Educational, Ginn, Butterworth-Heinemann, Tolley, Focal Press, Architectural Press. BATSFORD, and BRASSEY/CONWAY/PUTNAM Last year the marriage was announced of Brassey, plus its associated imprints of Conway Maritime Press and Putnam, with Batsford (see Greenhill Military Book News #83). Now we are shocked to learn of Batsford (founded in 1843) going into receivership, and substantial debts are reported. However there was an almost immediate purchase of its assets by Chrysalis, the same company that a year or two earlier rescued Salamander from the Receiver. Brassey (and its associated imprints) and Batsford were in separate compartments of the holding company (confusingly called Batsford Communications) which controlled them, and for a short while it seemed that Brassey would avoid Batsford's fate, and there was a realignment of Brassey's management. A spokesman was quoted as saying: 'The new management team is drawing up a business plan that would ensure the company is solvent and could attract investment'. Unfortunately, these hopes were premature and as this issue of GMBN goes to press we learn of a Receiver being appointed for Brassey and associated imprints. Entirely separately the US company Brassey Inc. was sold in June shortly before the collapse of Batsford to Books International of Virginia. Books International own one other small publishing house, but are distributors for a number of publishers including Sutton. Back to Greenhill Military Book News No. 93 Table of Contents Back to Greenhill Military Book News List of Issues Back to Master Magazine List © Copyright 1999 by Greenhill Books This article appears in MagWeb (Magazine Web) on the Internet World Wide Web. Other military history articles and gaming articles are available at http://www.magweb.com