Maureen Callahan

There used to be six.

Now there are only five.

Someday there will be two, maybe one.

But these are the huge, huge companies that have a stranglehold on what gets published.

You either get published through them or you essentially self-publish.

This all, I believe, and we're going to talk in a minute about this incredible piece that was written in the free press two years ago about this very thing.

And that piece dates it to George Floyd.

And I would date it there too.

George Floyd, that moment changed so much about the culture and really not for the better.

I mean, since then, we've had classics such as Huckleberry Finn canceled.

because of language that was common at the time.

We saw, you know, Oprah, that force for darkness.

I swear, Adam, I don't know your thoughts on Oprah, but do you remember when she anointed Janine Cummins?

Yeah.

American dirt as her book club pick.

And what happens when they pick your book, when Oprah picks your book is your publisher goes into hyper overdrive.

Now you're printing like half a million to a million copies.

You know, you've got a huge publicity push.

You're you're, you can basically just count the money coming in before a single book has been put on the shelves.

And yeah,