Penguin Random House’s decision to pay cult member and extremist political hack Amy Coney Barrett $2 million for her story on paper is one more disastrous betise by the corporate publishing world. This advance will never earn out. Her agency all but embezzled the publisher, but it is, of course, an easy mark for this type of hustle.
This acquisition is all you need to know about why corporate publishing is in freefall.
But more than that, it is an affront to human rights, as the open letter signed by 250 literary figures makes clear.