HarperCollins

Jane Friedman's OpenRoad Integrated Media Secures $3 Million in Funding

Last year, Amazon’s 10-K filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission listed publishers as its competitors in addition to bookstores and others—which started a flurry of chatter in the industry concerning the threat the online retailer poses to publishers in general. The nervous types worry that Amazon will eventually remove the need for middlemen like agents, distributors and even traditional publishers, as they create a one-on-one author/reader experience and purchasing system.

One night recently, I woke suddenly, due to a horrifying dream about … do I dare admit it? … Twitter. The dream made no real sense; I was tweeting—or posting, for you non-Twitterers—quotes from various people in the book publishing industry, one quote after another, but I couldn’t post them fast enough. I have similar work/stress-related dreams quite frequently, but I was amazed that I had one about Twitter—tweeting is one of the simplest things I do. So why the tweet dreams?

HarperCollins has been a recognized leader in digital publishing; last year, it was named Book Business' Publishing Innovator of the Year for its leadership in digital innovation. So it's not too suprising that the publishing giant, a division of Rupert Murdoch's News Corp., announced Monday that it has appointed a new editorial director of its digital publishing sector, a first for a publishing house, according to a story in Crain's New York Business.

HarperCollins Publishers has announced plans to launch a viral mobile initiative using 2-D barcodes, a new technology that links the print world to mobile. The codes, located on the back of book jackets and on marketing materials, will connect to a mobile site, with exclusive content about the authors and book.

From multimillion-dollar acquisitions to multimillion-dollar best-sellers, powerful women stand at every pivotal, decision-making point in the book publishing process. Book Business’ first annual “50 Top Women in Book Publishing” feature recognizes and honors some of these industry leaders who affect and transform how publishing companies do business, and what—and how—consumers read.

Two decades ago, as an entry-level editorial assistant, I was asked to sign form rejection letters with the name “Edith D. Wilson.” Edith was a fictional creation whose name my then-employer used exclusively to reject manuscripts. When “rejected” writers sent angry mail, phoned or worse—visited the publisher’s office—the use of Edith’s name at the reception desk would alert all to draw the shades or reach for the security buzzer. The message was clear: Editors, and the publishers they work for, need to be as hard to get to as possible. Publishing authority and position demanded “reclusivity.” Don’t call us, we’ll call you.

HarperCollins has launched It Books, a new popular culture imprint dedicated to entertainment, music, fashion, design and sports. The imprint will publish its first titles in September.

Six Approximate number of titles HarperCollins expects to produce as video books, or v-books, which will be available for download on iPods and iPhones. The publisher released its first v-book, “What Would Google Do?” by Jeff Jarvis, last month; the print version of the title was released in January. The “Google” v-book, which retails for $9.99, features a 23-minute video of Jarvis discussing the basic concepts in the book.
Source: paidContent.org, Feb. 3, 2009

Borders Group Inc. has agreed to accept books from HarperStudio—the HarperCollins imprint started by former Hyperion Books publisher Robert S. Miller—on a nonreturnable basis, according to The Wall Street Journal. When Miller, who serves as HarperStudio's president and publisher, joined HarperCollins in the spring to develop the new publishing group, one of the goals of the group was to eliminate the practice of allowing book-sellers to return unsold copies of books.