I've often felt a little sorry for Random House. Yes, the Bertelsmann-owned house is the "world's largest English-language trade book publisher," as the fine-print boilerplate in its press releases never ceases to remind us, and yes, even before it was conglomeratized, the folks there racked up an impressive list of authors and bestsellers, from Norman Mailer and E.L. Doctorow to Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil. But for all that Random has always had, there was one thing the house always lacked: synergy.

Remember synergy? The watchword of the turn of the century, the concept that brought us the Weinstein-Disney Miramax, ABC's Hyperion, News Corp.'s HarperCollins, Time Warner's Book Group and Viacom/CBS's Simon & Schuster? For a good half decade about a half decade ago, synergy was just about all anybody in the media business talked about: buying properties (content) for one medium along with the rights, interest and ability to use it in another. If publishing houses were personified, there would have been something wrong with the picture of the major players of the time: synergistically challenged Penguin and Random would have looked as out of place as a hatless Republican in Dallas.

But late last year, finally, Random addressed this sorry situation, announcing that it is going into partnership with Focus Features (part of synergistic giant in its own right NBC/Universal) to develop movies based on books published by Random House imprints. At last: the hobbled house had a powerful partner that would bring it even more renown and visibility, not to mention revenue. And the two books just announced as their first film projects—a novel about contemporary Tel Aviv and a nonfiction investigation of the war in Iraq—are sophisticated and interesting. Take that, you early adapters! Random is in the game after all.

Except for one thing... the game has changed. With the exception of the occasional ABC-affiliated celebrity bio out of Hyperion and News Corp.'s Regan/Harper/Fox tryst (which, predictably perhaps, spawned a short-lived bibliophilic Pamela Anderson sit-com), synergy is dead, or at least dying. Miramax (which developed precious few successful movie projects from its books) is no more—and word is that it will be several months before we hear what's happening at its offspring, Weinstein Co. The Time Warner Book Group is now owned by magazine-rich but film-and-TV-poor Lagardère, and Simon & Schuster—well, could Viacom have made it any clearer that they've lost interest in print?

So why is Random suddenly making this move (a move that, I must tell you, we at PW heard about many months ago, although it was strenuously, flatly denied by official sources)? It would be tempting to disparage them, to make snide remarks about misreading of tea leaves, coming late to the table, being doomed to failure, etc. etc. Except that Random didn't get to be the world's largest English-language trade book publisher by accident. In this case, they did what publishing houses often get criticized for, but also do best: they watched, they waited, they hung back. They let the other guys take the risks.

And when they finally stepped up, they did it small- instead of big-time. Because maybe they know something that the other guys didn't: synergy does exist, but it's only worth about two movies a year. For now....

Agree? Disagree? Tell us at www.publishersweekly.com/saranelson