“Further proof of how tough it is for independent publishers to survive” came this week with the news that Random House UK bought a 50 % partnership of small Scottish independent Mainstream, says Roger Tagholm in a Publishing News report. As Tagholm observes, “The news comes just three months after fellow independents Atlantic and Canongate joined Faber’s growing alliance of small publishers.” What inspired the Mainstream to give up its independence? Tagholm says it was “. . . difficulties Mainstream was having in getting to see the buyers at W. H. Smith that led to this week’s deal.”