Robert S. Miller Joins HarperCollins to Lead New Publishing Program

HarperCollins Publishers has signed Robert S. Miller, the founding publisher of Hyperion Books, to develop and launch a new global publishing program based on a nontraditional business model. Miller will start in his new position on Monday, April 14, at the London Book Fair. He will report directly to HarperCollins President and CEO Jane Friedman.

Miller will serve as president and publisher of the yet-to-be-named program, which will publish approximately 25 popular-priced books per year in multiple physical and digital formats. According to HarperCollins, the program will aim to combine the best practices of trade publishing while taking advantage of the Internet for sales, marketing and distribution. Authors will be compensated through a profit-sharing model as opposed to a traditional royalty model, eliminating cash advances.

The new publishing group also will attempt to eliminate the practice of allowing booksellers to return unsold copies of books, according to an April 4 article in The New York Times.

“HarperCollins is known for its innovation and experimentation, and I will live that philosophy,” says Miller, who was with Hyperion for 17 years. “Our goal will be to effectively publish books that might not otherwise emerge in an increasingly ‘big book’ environment, an environment in which established authors are under enormous pressure to top their previous successes, while new authors are finding it harder and harder to be published at all.”

“Bob Miller is one of the most talented publishers in the business, and we are thrilled to have him join the HarperCollins team with the objective to re-define publishing for the 21st century,” says Friedman. “Our industry needs digital and financial innovation to match its publishing expertise, to thrive in an increasingly competitive world. Combining Bob’s creativity with HarperCollins’ sales acumen and digital leadership, this new entity will create a unique publishing platform to incubate a new publishing paradigm—one that is unparalleled in the industry.”