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 Posted by Wayne G. Barber 

Stephen King Testifies

Horror author Stephen King took the stand yesterday as a Justice Department witness in the Penguin Random House and Simon & Schuster antitrust trial, stating consolidation is bad for competition in the industry. The bestselling author, mainly published by Simon & Schuster, testified to his belief large publisher mergers lead to lower pay for authors.   The trial began Monday to block the $2.2B merger, which would combine two Big Five publishers, giving them control of nearly half of the market. The government argued the deal would negatively affect authors with fewer bidders for their work, resulting in lower author advances—especially for those who earn advances of $250K and up. The publishers argue it would allow both companies to pool their resources to make the industry more competitive, offering higher advances. The two publishers will still operate separately and can bid against each other for book deals.   The trial is expected to last up to three weeks and includes testimony (see here and here) from top book executives throughout the publishing world.