Amy Schumer’s name briefly surfaced in the Greek media in April when she received death threats over a joke she made at the Oscars and then disappeared again.

However, the American comedian enjoys great recognition in her country, so much so that the advance she received from publisher Simon & Schuster for her 2016 autobiography, The Girl with the Lower Back Tattoo, is several “millions”. more than the publishers’ sales arm predicted would bring the book back.

This tantalizing information is some of the unknown details that have surfaced during a lawsuit in Washington, USA, over the merger between two publishing giants, Penguin Random House and Simon & Schuster, which the US Department of Justice is trying to block. . Hearings have been completed in the past few days and the court’s decision will be announced in a few weeks. As the New York Times notes, the lawsuit revealed interesting elements of the publishing industry.

Million dollar advances and profits from only 35% of the books.

In addition to the seven-figure amounts given to some authors as advances, an interesting fact was raised during the trial: which books make a profit for publishers. According to Penguin executives, only 35% of the company’s books are profitable. Even (worse still) 60% of profitability comes from a very small percentage, 4%, of these books.

The planned merger of the two publishers sent shockwaves through the publishing industry, especially among independent publishers. If this happens, the so-called “big five” publishers will become three, and medium and small businesses fear that the industry will create oligopolistic conditions and authors’ royalties will be reduced. Bestselling author Stephen King has spoken out against the merger, despite the fact that his books are published by Simon & Schuster.