penguin random housePenguin  Random House CEO Markus Dohle has given an interview with Buchreport.express, which has been shared with the German press. In it, he gives a status report on the integration of Penguin and Random house, particularly in Europe, as well as the company’s latest efforts in discoverability and other new horizons of publishing, which he describes as: “A lot of experiments, which also often fail .”

Dohle says for one thing that recent signs of publishing M&A picking up should not be taken too seriously – yet. “Much will depend on whether the Penguin Random House fusion works. In the positive case, other publishers will be motivated to go that route. Failure to achieve it, would be a bad sign not only for us but also for the entire industry.”

Dohle also states that. “For cracking the codes of discoverability, there is no panacea. This is a perennial paradigm shift from a highly commercially-oriented marketing to a more consumer-oriented advertising of books. It is important that readers find our books in the digital world and buy from our retail partners . This marketing innovation is a key strategic direction for us.” And as noted, he believes there are going to be as many failures as successes in this area for a while.

Oh, and for anyone who didn’t get the reference, “Dole: lamentation, from the Latin doleo, to grieve. ‘He [the dwarf] found the dead bodies, wherefore he made great dole’ —S. Lanier: King Arthur, book i. chap. xiv.

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