(no subject)
For all my book writing friends courtesy of today's NY Times and posted here for ease:
In a move that surprised many industry insiders, HarperCollins announced Thursday that Robert S. Miller, the founding publisher of Hyperion, the adult books division of the Disney Company, would leave his post of 17 years to lead the new, as yet unnamed, entity. HarperCollins is owned by the News Corporation.
“The idea is ‘Let’s take all the things that we think are wrong with this business and try to change them,’ ” Mr. Miller, 51, said. “It really seemed to require a start-up from scratch because it will be very experimental. We will try things and, if they don’t work then, we will try other things.”
Jane Friedman, president and chief executive of HarperCollins, said the group would offer titles that might be published in smaller formats than traditional books, as well as simultaneous releases of electronic books and digital audio books.
“At this moment of real volatility in the book business, when we are all recognizing things that are difficult to contend with like growing advances and returns and that people are reading more online,” Ms. Friedman said, “we want to give them information in any format that they want.”
Author advances and bookseller returns are two issues that have long troubled the publishing industry. Best-selling authors can command advances that are so high that publishers often come away with slim profits, even for books that are major successes. Publishers also offer high advances to untested authors in the hopes of creating best sellers, but often those risks do not pan out.
Ms. Friedman said the new group, which will start by publishing 25 titles a year, will offer “low or no advances.” Mr. Miller said he hoped to offer a profit-sharing plan in which both publisher and author would split the net profits.
Under current standard practices, booksellers can return any books they do not sell, saddling publishers with the high costs of shipping and pulping copies. Mr. Miller said that by eliminating returns, the publishers could share any savings with authors.
The new group, which Ms. Friedman is calling a studio, will probably publish hardcover editions at the low end of the market, around $20 a copy. She pointed to some of the titles that Mr. Miller had published while at Hyperion as models for the new group, including Mitch Albom’s “The Five People You Meet in Heaven” and “The Best Loved Poems of Jacqueline Kennedy-Onassis.”
Mr. Miller said that he would try to come up with ideas for books and then solicit authors to write them, as well as working with agents who are seeking book deals for authors who already have proposals or manuscripts.
The group, Ms. Friedman said, would release electronic, audio and hardcover editions for every title it publishes. Currently, HarperCollins does not produce e-books or audio editions of every title. The publisher has so far converted about 3,000 titles into e-books, she said, while globally, it has about 25,000 physical editions in print.
Mr. Miller said he was considering offering both e-book and audio editions with the hardcovers automatically, at no additional cost to the consumer.
In keeping with the new group’s digital focus, Ms. Friedman said it would conduct most of its marketing online, rather than buying traditional newspaper or magazine advertisements.
In a move that surprised many industry insiders, HarperCollins announced Thursday that Robert S. Miller, the founding publisher of Hyperion, the adult books division of the Disney Company, would leave his post of 17 years to lead the new, as yet unnamed, entity. HarperCollins is owned by the News Corporation.
“The idea is ‘Let’s take all the things that we think are wrong with this business and try to change them,’ ” Mr. Miller, 51, said. “It really seemed to require a start-up from scratch because it will be very experimental. We will try things and, if they don’t work then, we will try other things.”
Jane Friedman, president and chief executive of HarperCollins, said the group would offer titles that might be published in smaller formats than traditional books, as well as simultaneous releases of electronic books and digital audio books.
“At this moment of real volatility in the book business, when we are all recognizing things that are difficult to contend with like growing advances and returns and that people are reading more online,” Ms. Friedman said, “we want to give them information in any format that they want.”
Author advances and bookseller returns are two issues that have long troubled the publishing industry. Best-selling authors can command advances that are so high that publishers often come away with slim profits, even for books that are major successes. Publishers also offer high advances to untested authors in the hopes of creating best sellers, but often those risks do not pan out.
Ms. Friedman said the new group, which will start by publishing 25 titles a year, will offer “low or no advances.” Mr. Miller said he hoped to offer a profit-sharing plan in which both publisher and author would split the net profits.
Under current standard practices, booksellers can return any books they do not sell, saddling publishers with the high costs of shipping and pulping copies. Mr. Miller said that by eliminating returns, the publishers could share any savings with authors.
The new group, which Ms. Friedman is calling a studio, will probably publish hardcover editions at the low end of the market, around $20 a copy. She pointed to some of the titles that Mr. Miller had published while at Hyperion as models for the new group, including Mitch Albom’s “The Five People You Meet in Heaven” and “The Best Loved Poems of Jacqueline Kennedy-Onassis.”
Mr. Miller said that he would try to come up with ideas for books and then solicit authors to write them, as well as working with agents who are seeking book deals for authors who already have proposals or manuscripts.
The group, Ms. Friedman said, would release electronic, audio and hardcover editions for every title it publishes. Currently, HarperCollins does not produce e-books or audio editions of every title. The publisher has so far converted about 3,000 titles into e-books, she said, while globally, it has about 25,000 physical editions in print.
Mr. Miller said he was considering offering both e-book and audio editions with the hardcovers automatically, at no additional cost to the consumer.
In keeping with the new group’s digital focus, Ms. Friedman said it would conduct most of its marketing online, rather than buying traditional newspaper or magazine advertisements.