Macmillan
MacMillan, Macmillan, McMillen or McMillan may refer to:
People
* McMillan (surname)
* Clan MacMillan, a Highland Scottish clan
* Harold Macmillan, British statesman and politician
* James MacMillan, Scottish composer
* William Duncan MacMillan ...
. The company is headquartered in New York City and is a subsidiary of
News Corp
News Corporation, stylized as News Corp, is an American mass media and publishing company headquartered in Midtown Manhattan, New York City. The second incarnation of the News Corporation (1980–2013), original News Corporation, it was formed ...
. The name is a combination of several publishing firm names: Harper & Row, an American publishing company acquired in 1987—whose own name was the result of an earlier merger of Harper & Brothers (founded in 1817) and Row, Peterson & Company—together with Scottish publishing company William Collins, Sons (founded in 1819), acquired in 1989.
The worldwide CEO of HarperCollins is Brian Murray. HarperCollins has publishing groups in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, Brazil, India, and China. The company publishes many different
imprint
Imprint or imprinting may refer to:
Entertainment
* ''Imprint'' (TV series), Canadian television series
* "Imprint" (''Masters of Horror''), episode of TV show ''Masters of Horror''
* ''Imprint'' (film), a 2007 independent drama/thriller film
...
s, both former independent publishing houses and new imprints.
History
Collins
Harper
Mergers and acquisitions
Collins was bought by Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation in 1989, and was combined with Harper & Row, which NewsCorp had acquired two years earlier. In addition to the simplified and merged name, the logo for HarperCollins was derived from the torch logo for Harper and Row, and the fountain logo for Collins, which were combined into a stylized depiction of flames atop waves.
In 1990, HarperCollins sold J. B. Lippincott & Co., its medical publishing division, to the Dutch publisher Wolters Kluwer.
In 1996, HarperCollins sold Scott Foresman and HarperCollins College to Pearson, which merged them with
Addison-Wesley Longman
Addison-Wesley is an American publisher of textbooks and computer literature. It is an imprint of Pearson PLC, a global publishing and education company. In addition to publishing books, Addison-Wesley also distributes its technical titles through ...
.
News Corporation purchased the Hearst Book Group, consisting of William Morrow & Company and Avon Books, in 1999. These imprints are now published under the rubric of HarperCollins. HarperCollins bought educational publisher Letts and Lonsdale in March 2010.
In 2011, HarperCollins announced they had agreed to acquire the publisher Thomas Nelson. The purchase was completed on July 11, 2012, with an announcement that Thomas Nelson would operate independently given the position it has in Christian book publishing. Both Thomas Nelson and Zondervan were then organized as imprints, or "keystone publishing programs," under a new division, HarperCollins Christian Publishing. Key roles in the reorganization were awarded to former Thomas Nelson executives.
In 2012, HarperCollins acquired part of the trade operations of John Wiley & Son in Canada.
In 2014, HarperCollins acquired Canadian romance publisher Harlequin Enterprises for C$455 million.
In 2018, HarperCollins acquired the business publisher Amacom from the American Management Association.
In 2020, HarperCollins acquired the children's publishers Egmont Books UK, Egmont Poland and Schneiderbuch Germany from the
Egmont Group
The Egmont Group (formerly The Gutenberghus Group) is a Danish media corporation founded and rooted in Copenhagen, Denmark. The business area of Egmont has traditionally been magazine publishing but has over the years evolved to comprise mass me ...
.
On March 29, 2021, HarperCollins announced that it would acquire HMH Books & Media, the trade publishing division of
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt (; HMH) is an American publisher of textbooks, instructional technology materials, assessments, reference works, and fiction and non-fiction for both young readers and adults. The company is based in the Financial Dist ...
, for $349 million. The deal would allow HMH to pay down its debt and focus on digital education. The deal was completed on May 10. As of July 7, 2021, HMH's adult books will be published as Mariner Books, while HMH's children's books will be published as Clarion Books.
In 2021, HarperCollins acquired the British publishers Pavilion Books.
In 2022 HarperCollins acquired Cider Mill Press.
Management history
Brian Murray, the current CEO of HarperCollins, succeeded Jane Friedman who was CEO from 1997 to 2008. Notable management figures include Lisa Sharkey, current senior vice president and director of creative development and Barry Winkleman from 1989 to 1994.
''United States v. Apple Inc.''
In April 2012, the United States Department of Justice filed '' United States v. Apple Inc.'', naming Apple, HarperCollins, and four other major publishers as defendants. The suit alleged that they conspired to fix prices for e-books, and weaken Amazon.com's position in the market, in violation of antitrust law.
In December 2013, a federal judge approved a settlement of the antitrust claims, in which HarperCollins and the other publishers paid into a fund that provided credits to customers who had overpaid for books due to the price-fixing.
US warehouse closings
On November 5, 2012, HarperCollins announced to employees privately and then later in the day publicly that it was closing its remaining two US warehouses, to merge shipping and warehousing operations with R. R. Donnelley in Indiana. The Scranton, Pennsylvania, warehouse closed in September 2013 and a Nashville, Tennessee, warehouse, under the name Thomas Nelson (which distributes the religious arm of HarperCollins/Zondervan Books), in the winter of 2013. Several office positions and departments continued to work for HarperCollins in Scranton, but in a new location.
The Scranton warehouse closing eliminated about 200 jobs, and the Nashville warehouse closing eliminated up to 500 jobs; the exact number of distribution employees is unknown.
HarperCollins previously closed two US warehouses, one in Williamsport, Pennsylvania, in 2011 and another in Grand Rapids, Michigan, in 2012. "We have taken a long-term, global view of our print distribution and are committed to offering the broadest possible reach for our authors," said HarperCollins Chief Executive Brian Murray, according to'' Publishers Weekly''. "We are retooling the traditional distribution model to ensure we can competitively offer the entire HarperCollins catalog to customers regardless of location." Company officials attribute the closings and mergers to the rapidly growing demand for e-book formats and the decline in print purchasing.
Internet Archive lawsuit
In June 2020, HarperCollins was one of a group of publishers who sued the Internet Archive, arguing that its collection of e-books was denying authors and publishers revenue and accusing the library of "willful mass copyright infringement".
Lindsay Lohan lawsuit
In September 2020, HarperCollins sued
Lindsay Lohan
Lindsay Dee Lohan ( ; born July 2, 1986) is an American actress and singer. Born in New York City and raised on Long Island, Lohan was signed to Ford Models at the age of three. Having appeared as a regular on the television soap opera '' An ...
for entering into a book deal and collecting a $350,000 advance for a tell-all memoir that never materialized.
Anne Frank's betrayal
A 2022 book written by Rosemary Sullivan, with HarperCollins as main publisher, designated a Jewish notary as the most likely suspect in Anne Frank's betrayal. The conclusion was challenged by experts. The notary's family members threatened a lawsuit and started a foundation. The Dutch publisher withdrew the book, but HarperCollins has not taken any definitive decision.
UAW strike
On November 10, 2022, approximately 250 unionized workers at HarperCollins began an indefinite strike. Local 2110 of the United Auto Workers (UAW) union includes people in design, marketing, publicity, and sales for the company. The UAW union made the decision to strike after drawn-out negotiations between it and HarperCollins, which resulted in members "working without a contract since April." According to a spokesperson, HarperCollins "has agreed to a number of proposals that the UAW is seeking to include in a new contract" and "is disappointed an agreement has not been reached" but "will continue to negotiate in good faith."
As of December 19th 2022, the strike is ongoing.
Noted books
HarperCollins maintains the backlist of many of the books originally published by its many merged imprints, in addition to having picked up new authors since the merger. Authors published originally by Harper include
Mark Twain
Samuel Langhorne Clemens (November 30, 1835 – April 21, 1910), known by his pen name Mark Twain, was an American writer, humorist, entrepreneur, publisher, and lecturer. He was praised as the "greatest humorist the United States has p ...
Agatha Christie
Dame Agatha Mary Clarissa Christie, Lady Mallowan, (; 15 September 1890 – 12 January 1976) was an English writer known for her 66 detective novels and 14 short story collections, particularly those revolving around fictiona ...
. HarperCollins also acquired the publishing rights to J. R. R. Tolkien's work in 1990 when
Unwin Hyman
George Allen & Unwin was a British publishing company formed in 1911 when Sir Stanley Unwin purchased a controlling interest in George Allen & Co. It went on to become one of the leading publishers of the twentieth century and to establish an ...
was bought. This is a list of some of the more noted books and series published by HarperCollins and their various imprints and merged publishing houses.
* '' The Hobbit'', J. R. R. Tolkien (1937) (originally published by George Allen & Unwin)
* '' The Lord of the Rings'', J. R. R. Tolkien (1954–1955) (originally published by George Allen & Unwin)
* ''
The Art of Loving
''The Art of Loving'' is a 1956 book by psychoanalyst and social philosopher Erich Fromm. It was originally published as part of the '' World Perspectives'' series edited by Ruth Nanda Anshen. In this work, Fromm develops his perspective on huma ...
'',
Erich Fromm
Erich Seligmann Fromm (; ; March 23, 1900 – March 18, 1980) was a German social psychologist, psychoanalyst, sociologist, humanistic philosopher, and democratic socialist. He was a German Jew who fled the Nazi regime and settled in the U ...
Christopher Tolkien
Christopher John Reuel Tolkien (21 November 1924 – 16 January 2020) was an English academic editor, becoming a French citizen in later life. The son of author and academic J. R. R. Tolkien, Christopher Tolkien edited much of his father' ...
Weaveworld
''Weaveworld'' is a 1987 dark fantasy novel by English writer Clive Barker. It is about a magical world that is hidden inside a tapestry, known as the Fugue, to safeguard it from both inquisitive humans and hostile supernatural foes. Two norm ...
Take Back Plenty
''Take Back Plenty'' (1990), is a novel by British writer Colin Greenland, which won both major British science fiction awards, the 1990 British SF Association award and the 1991 Arthur C. Clarke Award,Clute and Nicholls 1995, p. 525. as well a ...
'' series, Colin Greenland (1990+)
* ''Where There's a Will: Who Inherited What and Why'',
Stephen M. Silverman
Stephen M. Silverman is an American biographer, journalist, and editor. He was chief entertainment correspondent for the ''New York Post'' from 1977 to 1988,
The Language of the Genes
''The Language of the Genes'' (HarperCollins, ) is a popular science book by Steve Jones about genetics and evolution. It followed a 1991 series of Reith Lectures by Jones with the same title.Steve Jones Steve or Steven Jones may refer to:
Arts and entertainment
* Steve Jones (English presenter) (born 1945), English musician, disk jockey, television presenter, and voice-over artist
*Steve Jones (musician) (born 1955), English rock and roll guita ...
(1993)
* ''
The Gifts of the Body
''The Gifts of the Body'' is a 1994 novel by Rebecca Brown, and originally published by HarperCollins. The book consists of several interconnected stories.
Plot
The several short stories are narrated by a caregiver who is tending to several pa ...
A. N. D. Haksar
Aditya Narayan Dhairyasheel Haksar (born 3 December 1933) is a well known translator of Sanskrit classics into English. Born in Gwalior, central India, he is a graduate of The Doon School, Allahabad University and Oxford University. He was a care ...
Bel Canto
Bel canto (Italian for "beautiful singing" or "beautiful song", )—with several similar constructions (''bellezze del canto'', ''bell'arte del canto'')—is a term with several meanings that relate to Italian singing.
The phrase was not associat ...
American Gods
''American Gods'' (2001) is a fantasy novel by British author Neil Gaiman. The novel is a blend of Americana, fantasy, and various strands of ancient and modern mythology, all centering on the mysterious and taciturn Shadow.
The book was pub ...
'',
Neil Gaiman
Neil Richard MacKinnon GaimanBorn as Neil Richard Gaiman, with "MacKinnon" added on the occasion of his marriage to Amanda Palmer. ; ( Neil Richard Gaiman; born 10 November 1960) is an English author of short fiction, novels, comic books, gr ...
Quicksilver
Quicksilver may refer to:
* Quicksilver (metal), the chemical element mercury
Arts and entertainment
Music
* Quicksilver, a bluegrass band fronted by Doyle Lawson
* "Quicksilver" (song), a 1950 hit for Bing Crosby
* ''Quicksilver'' (sound ...
'',
Neal Stephenson
Neal Town Stephenson (born October 31, 1959) is an American writer known for his works of speculative fiction. His novels have been categorized as science fiction, historical fiction, cyberpunk, postcyberpunk, and baroque.
Stephenson's work exp ...
Acquainted with the Night
"Acquainted with the Night" is a poem by Robert Frost. It first appeared in the Autumn, 1928 issue of ''The Virginia Quarterly Review'' and was republished that year in his collection '' West-Running Brook''.
Poem
Interpretation and form
T ...
Michael Crichton
John Michael Crichton (; October 23, 1942 – November 4, 2008) was an American author and filmmaker. His books have sold over 200 million copies worldwide, and over a dozen have been adapted into films. His literary works heavily feature tech ...
(2004)
* ''
Darkhouse
''Darkhouse'' is a 2005 mystery- detective novel written by Irish author Alex Barclay and published by HarperCollins in the United Kingdom, and later in the USA, France and many other markets. It is the debut novel of pseudonymous former journa ...
Elmore Leonard
Elmore John Leonard Jr. (October 11, 1925August 20, 2013) was an American novelist, short story writer, and screenwriter. His earliest novels, published in the 1950s, were Westerns, but he went on to specialize in crime fiction and suspense thri ...
Joyce Carol Oates
Joyce Carol Oates (born June 16, 1938) is an American writer. Oates published her first book in 1963, and has since published 58 novels, a number of plays and novellas, and many volumes of short stories, poetry, and non-fiction. Her novels '' Bla ...
Michael Crichton
John Michael Crichton (; October 23, 1942 – November 4, 2008) was an American author and filmmaker. His books have sold over 200 million copies worldwide, and over a dozen have been adapted into films. His literary works heavily feature tech ...
Beth Holloway
Elizabeth Ann Holloway (''née'' Reynolds; born 1960) is an American speech pathologist and motivational speaker. She became widely known in the international media after her teenage daughter, Natalee, disappeared while she was on a high school ...
Sarah Palin
Sarah Louise Palin (; Heath; born February 11, 1964) is an American politician, commentator, author, and reality television personality who served as the ninth governor of Alaska from 2006 until her resignation in 2009. She was the 2008 R ...
(2009)
* ''
Pirate Latitudes
''Pirate Latitudes'' is an action adventure novel by Michael Crichton, the sixteenth novel to be published under his own name and first to be published after his death, concerning 17th-century piracy in the Caribbean. HarperCollins published th ...
Micro
Micro may refer to:
Measurement
* micro- (μ), a metric prefix denoting a factor of 10−6
Places
* Micro, North Carolina, town in U.S.
People
* DJ Micro, (born Michael Marsicano) an American trance DJ and producer
*Chii Tomiya (都宮 ちい ...
Abhinav Bindra
Abhinav Apjit Bindra is an Indian Olympic gold medallist, retired sport shooter, and businessman.Go Set a Watchman'',
Harper Lee
Nelle Harper Lee (April 28, 1926February 19, 2016) was an American novelist best known for her 1960 novel ''To Kill a Mockingbird''. It won the 1961 Pulitzer Prize and has become a classic of modern American literature. Lee has received numero ...
(2015)
* ''
The Poppy War
''The Poppy War'' is a 2018 novel by R. F. Kuang, published by Harper Voyager. ''The Poppy War'', a grimdark fantasy, draws its plot and politics from mid-20th-century China, with the conflict in the novel based on the Second Sino-Japanese War, ...
'',
R.F. Kuang
Rebecca F. Kuang is a Chinese-American fantasy writer. Her first novel, '' The Poppy War'', was released in 2018, followed by the sequels ''The Dragon Republic'' in 2019 and ''The Burning God'' in 2020. Kuang released a stand-alone novel, ''Bab ...
Charlotte's Web
''Charlotte's Web'' is a book of children's literature by American author E. B. White and illustrated by Garth Williams; it was published on October 15, 1952, by Harper & Brothers. The novel tells the story of a livestock pig named Wilbur and his ...
Maurice Sendak
Maurice Bernard Sendak (; June 10, 1928 – May 8, 2012) was an American author and illustrator of children's books. He became most widely known for his book ''Where the Wild Things Are'', first published in 1963.Turan, Kenneth (October 16, 200 ...
Margaret Wise Brown
Margaret Wise Brown (May 23, 1910 – November 13, 1952) was an American writer of children's books, including ''Goodnight Moon'' and ''The Runaway Bunny'', both illustrated by Clement Hurd. She has been called "the laureate of the nursery" for ...
. In 1998, Nordstrom's personal correspondence was published as ''Dear Genius: The Letters of Ursula Nordstrom'' (illustrated by
Maurice Sendak
Maurice Bernard Sendak (; June 10, 1928 – May 8, 2012) was an American author and illustrator of children's books. He became most widely known for his book ''Where the Wild Things Are'', first published in 1963.Turan, Kenneth (October 16, 200 ...
), edited by Charlotte Zolotow. Zolotow began her career as a stenographer to Nordstrom, became her ''protégé'', and went on to write more than 80 books and edit hundreds of others, including Nordstrom's ''The Secret Language'' and the works of
Paul Fleischman
Paul Fleischman (born 1952) is an American writer of children's books. He and his father Sid Fleischman have both won the Newbery Medal from the American Library Association recognizing the year's "most distinguished contribution to American l ...
. Zolotow later became head of the children's books department, and went on to become the company's first female vice president.
'' The Chronicles of Narnia'' series by C.S. Lewis, while not originally published by a merged imprint of HarperCollins, was acquired by the publisher.
HarperCollins has published these notable children's books:
* the
I Can Read!
I Can Read! is a line of beginning reading books published by HarperCollins. The series is rated by level and is widely used to teach children to read English. The first book in the series was Else Holmelund Minarik's '' Little Bear'', published ...
Frog and Toad
''Frog and Toad'' is a series of easy-reader children's books, written and illustrated by Arnold Lobel.
Each book contains five simple, often humorous, sometimes poignant, short stories chronicling the exploits of an anthropomorphic frog and toad ...
'' (
Arnold Lobel
Arnold Stark Lobel (May 22, 1933 – December 4, 1987) was an American author of children's books, including the '' Frog and Toad'' series and '' Mouse Soup''. He wrote and illustrated these picture books as well as ''Fables'', a 1981 Caldecott M ...
Maurice Sendak
Maurice Bernard Sendak (; June 10, 1928 – May 8, 2012) was an American author and illustrator of children's books. He became most widely known for his book ''Where the Wild Things Are'', first published in 1963.Turan, Kenneth (October 16, 200 ...
Love That Dog
''Love That Dog'' is a free verse piece written by Sharon Creech and published by HarperCollins. It is written in diary format, in the perspective of a young boy who resists poetry assignments from his teacher. The author drew inspiration from Wal ...
manga
Manga (Japanese: 漫画 ) are comics or graphic novels originating from Japan. Most manga conform to a style developed in Japan in the late 19th century, and the form has a long prehistory in earlier Japanese art. The term ''manga'' is u ...
series, Darren Shan and Takahiro Arai (2006–2009)
* ''
The Dangerous Book for Boys
''The Dangerous Book for Boys'', by Conn and Hal Iggulden is a guidebook published by HarperCollins, aimed at boys "from eight to eighty." It covers around eighty topics, including how to build a treehouse, grow a crystal, or tell direction ...
'', Conn Iggulden, Conn and Hal Iggulden (2006)
* ''Sabriel'', Garth Nix (1995)
* ''A Barrel of Laughs, a Vale of Tears'', Jules Feiffer (1995)
* ''Mister God, This Is Anna'', Fynn (pseudonym of Sydney Hopkins) (1974)
* the ''Little House on the Prairie'' series, Laura Ingalls Wilder (1932–2006)
* ''The Wolves in the Walls'',
Neil Gaiman
Neil Richard MacKinnon GaimanBorn as Neil Richard Gaiman, with "MacKinnon" added on the occasion of his marriage to Amanda Palmer. ; ( Neil Richard Gaiman; born 10 November 1960) is an English author of short fiction, novels, comic books, gr ...
and Dave McKean (2003)
* ''Monster (Walter Dean Myers novel), Monster'', Walter Dean Myers (1999)
* ''Coraline'',
Neil Gaiman
Neil Richard MacKinnon GaimanBorn as Neil Richard Gaiman, with "MacKinnon" added on the occasion of his marriage to Amanda Palmer. ; ( Neil Richard Gaiman; born 10 November 1960) is an English author of short fiction, novels, comic books, gr ...
and Dave McKean (2002)
* ''Surviving the Applewhites'', Stephanie S. Tolan (2002)
* ''The Gollywhopper Games'' (2008)
* ''Ruby Redfort'' (series), Lauren Child (2011)
* ''Divergent (book), Divergent'', Veronica Roth (2011)
* ''Survivors (novel series), Survivors'' series (2012-2019)
* ''The School for Good and Evil'', Soman Chainani (2013–present)
* ''Splat the Cat'', Rob Scotton (2007–present)
*''
Charlotte's Web
''Charlotte's Web'' is a book of children's literature by American author E. B. White and illustrated by Garth Williams; it was published on October 15, 1952, by Harper & Brothers. The novel tells the story of a livestock pig named Wilbur and his ...
,'' E. B. White (2015)
* ''Little Penguin'', Tadgh Bentley (2015–present)
* ''Elinor Wonders Why'' adapted books (2021–present)
Imprints
HarperCollins has more than 120 book
imprint
Imprint or imprinting may refer to:
Entertainment
* ''Imprint'' (TV series), Canadian television series
* "Imprint" (''Masters of Horror''), episode of TV show ''Masters of Horror''
* ''Imprint'' (film), a 2007 independent drama/thriller film
...
s, most of which are based in the United States. Collins still exists as an imprint, chiefly for wildlife and natural history books, field guides, as well as for English and bilingual dictionaries based on the Bank of English, a large text corpus, corpus of contemporary English texts.
HarperCollins imprints (current and defunct, including imprints that existed prior to various mergers) include:
Current
Adult
Children
* HarperCollins Children's Books
** Harper Festival, a publisher of novelty books founded in 1992
** HarperTeen
** HarperTeen Impulse (digital imprint)
** HarperTrophy
** Amistad
** Balzer + Bray
** Collins
** Clarion Books
** Greenwillow Books
** Heartdrum
** HMH Books for Young Readers
** Katherine Tegen Books
** Walden Pond Press
** Blink Young Adult
*Farshore (formerly Egmont Books UK)
**Electric Monkey
Christian
* Thomas Nelson
** Grupo Nelson
** Nelson Books
** Tommy Nelson
** W Publishing Group
** WestBow Press
* Zondervan
** Editorial Vida
** Zonderkidz
**Zondervan Academic
**Zondervan Reflective
In 2008, HarperCollins launched a browsing feature on its website to allow customers can read selected excerpts from books before purchasing, on both desktop and mobile browsers. This functionality gave the publisher's website the ability to compete with physical bookstores, in which customers can typically look at the book itself, and Amazon (company), Amazon's use of excerpts ("teasers") for online book purchasers.
At the beginning of October 2013, the company announced a partnership with online digital library Scribd. The official statement revealed that the "majority" of the HarperCollins US and HarperCollins Christian catalogs will be available in Scribd's subscription service. Chantal Restivo-Alessi, chief digital officer at HarperCollins, explained to the media that the deal represents the first time that the publisher has released such a large portion of its catalog.
HarperCollins formerly operated ''authonomy'', an online community of authors, from 2008 to 2015. The website offered an alternative to the traditional "slushpile, slush pile" approach for handling unsolicited manuscripts sent to a publisher with little chance of being reviewed. Using authonomy, authors could submit their work for peer review and ranking by other members; the five highest-ranked manuscripts each month would be read by HarperCollins editors for potential publication. The site was closed after authors "learned to game the system" to earn top-five rankings, and fewer authonomy titles were selected to be published.
From 2009 to 2010, HarperCollins operated Bookarmy, a social networking site.
Speakers Bureau
The HarperCollins Speakers Bureau (also known as HCSB) is the first lecture agency to be created by a major publishing house. It was launched in May 2005McGee, Celia "A Way to Give Authors a Lucrative Second Platform." ''The New York Times'', June 4, 2007. Retrieved February 23, 2009. as a division of HarperCollins to book paid speaking engagements for the authors HarperCollins, and its sister companies, publish. Andrea Rosen is the director.
Some of the notable authors the HCSB represents include Carol Alt, Dennis Lehane, Gregory Maguire, Danny Meyer, Mehmet Oz, Sidney Poitier, Ted Sorensen, and Kate White.
HarperAcademic
HarperAcademic is the academic marketing department of HarperCollins. HarperAcademic provides instructors with the latest in adult titles for course adoption at the high school and college level, as well as titles for first-year and other common read programs at academic institutions. They also attend several major academic conferences to showcase new titles for academic professionals. HarperAcademic Calling a podcast produced by the department, provides interviews with authors of noteworthy titles.
HarperStudio
HarperCollins announced HarperStudio in 2008 as a "new, experimental unit... that will eliminate the traditional profit distributions to authors. The long-established author advances and bookseller returns has not proved to be very profitable to either the author or the publisher. The approach HarperStudio is now taking is to offer little or no advance, but instead to split the profit 50% (rather than the industry standard 15%), with the author." The division was headed by Bob Miller, previously the founding publisher of Disney Hyperion, Hyperion, the adult books division of the Walt Disney Company. HarperStudio folded in March 2010 after Miller left for Workman Publishing.
HarperCollins India
HarperCollins Publishers India Pvt Ltd. is a wholly owned subsidiary of HarperCollins Worldwide. It came into being in 1992.
Controversies
''If I Did It''
''If I Did It'' was a book written by O. J. Simpson about his alleged murder of Nicole Simpson, which was planned as a HarperCollins title, and which attracted considerable controversy and a legal battle over publication.
Ben Collins
In August 2010, the company became embroiled in a legal battle with the BBC after a book it was due to publish, later identified as the forthcoming autobiography of racing driver Ben Collins (racing driver), Ben Collins, revealed the identity of The Stig from ''Top Gear (2002 TV series), Top Gear''. In his blog, ''Top Gear'' executive producer Andy Wilman accused HarperCollins of "hoping to cash in" on the BBC's intellectual property, describing the publishers as "a bunch of chancers". On September 1, the BBC's request for an injunction preventing the book from being published was turned down, effectively confirming the book's revelation that "The Stig" was indeed Collins.
''East and West''
The company became embroiled in controversy in 1998 after it was revealed it blocked Chris Patten's (the last British governor of Hong Kong) book ''East and West (book), East and West'' after a direct intervention by the then-CEO of News International, Rupert Murdoch. It was later revealed by Stuart Proffitt, the editor who had worked on the book for HarperCollins, that this intervention was designed to appease the Chinese authorities—of whom the book was critical—as Murdoch intended to extend his business empire into China and did not wish to cause problems there by allowing the book to be published.
Murdoch's intervention caused both Proffitt's resignation from the company and outrage from the international media apart from affiliated companies. Chris Patten later published with Macmillan Publishing, initially in America, where it carried the logo "The book that Rupert Murdoch refused to publish". After a successful legal campaign against HarperCollins, Patten went on to publish the book in the UK in September 1998 after accepting a sum of £500,000 and receiving an apology from Rupert Murdoch.
Ebooks
In March 2011, HarperCollins announced it would distribute ebooks to libraries with Digital rights management, DRM enabled to delete the item after being lent 26 times. HarperCollins has drawn criticism of this plan, in particular its likening of ebooks, which are purely digital, to traditional paperback trade books, which wear over time.
Omission of Israel from an atlas
In December 2014, ''The Tablet'' reported that an atlas published for Middle East schools did not label Israel on a map of the Middle East. A representative for Collins Bartholomew, a subsidiary of HarperCollins that specializes in maps, explained that including Israel would have been "unacceptable" to their customers in the Arab states of the Persian Gulf and the omission was in line with "local preferences". The company later apologized and destroyed all the books.
''What the (Bleep) Just Happened?''
HarperCollins announced in January 2017 that they would discontinue selling copies of Monica Crowley's book ''What the (Bleep) Just Happened?'', due to allegations of plagiarism. The 2012 book had lifted passages from a number of sources including columns, news articles and think tank reports. HarperCollins said in a statement to CNN's ''Andrew Kaczynski, KFile'', "The book which has reached the end of its natural sales cycle, will no longer be offered for purchase until such time as the author has the opportunity to source and revise the material."
See also
* Books in the United States
* COBUILD – a research facility set up by Collins in conjunction with the University of Birmingham
* ''Harper's Magazine'' – a separately owned magazine, although begun by the original Harper & Brothers
* List of largest UK book publishers
* '' The Lord of the Rings''; HarperCollins is the current non-US publisher of the Tolkien series
References
External links
*
Greenwillow Books records, 1974–2014
{{Portal bar, United States, United Kingdom, Books
HarperCollins books,
1989 establishments in New York City
Book publishing companies based in New York (state)
Book publishing companies of the United Kingdom
News Corporation subsidiaries
Publishing companies based in New York City
Publishing companies established in 1989