Well, it’s happened again.

Two of the top publishers have merged forces. The new Penguin Random House is now the dominant publisher in America…and since American publishing is the top of all nations, that makes it the biggest in the world.

The combined companies control over 25% of the book business. One of their top priorities is to “crack the code of discoverability,” to figure out how to put more books in front of more buyers in a market that has seen fewer brick-and-mortar stores every year.

One consultant said that they could use their large list to create digital subscriptions, like an e-book of the month club.

Harlan Coben noted that every author is worried that fewer houses mean fewer opportunities to get books published. He also said that the business is changing so rapidly that any predictions made now will likely fall flat.