Hooray for HarperCollins' Employees ... Intro to 'Occupy Lit'

All our country's current unrest and angst RE Wall Street's hypocritical machinations, lying and downright greed has not gone unnoticed by the publishing world ... Especially since the publishing world (at least in part) is knee-deep in that very same greed!

But, here comes the righteous to smite the bad, greedy bastards and put them in their place (actually their place is so very far below this earth they can't be hit hard enough to go there; but, they WILL find their way there eventually).

The gallant, righteous heroes in this case are the employees of News Corp-owned book publishing company HarperCollins ... And you know who owns HarperCollins today: Rupert Murdoch, the poster child for the 1%'s greed.

This by Rosie Gray of 'The Runnin Scared Blog' in The Village Voice: 

Occupy Lit: Publishing Employees to Rally Against HarperCollins

Spotted at Occupy Wall Street by the Observer: employees of News Corp-owned book publishing company HarperCollins are staging a rally next Wednesday, making this the latest union action to throw its lot in with OWS.


"Employees of HarperCollins have been working without a contract for almost a year," the flier reads. "Management wants to eliminate guaranteed wage increases, double the cost of health benefits and eviscerate layoff and seniority protection."

It continues, "HarperCollins is a highly profitable commercial publisher and is owned by RUPERT MURDOCH, poster child for the 1%'s greed. Please join us for a lunch hour rally in support of the dedicated HarperCollins staff."

Unionized HarperCollins employees are members of UAW Local 2110 [disclosure: Village Voice union members are also represented by that union but have nothing to do with the HarperCollins rally]. According to UAW Local 2110 recording secretary Eden Schulz, the HarperCollins bargaining unit is about 200 people. "I wouldn't say most of the positions are in the bargaining unit, but we represent a huge chunk," she said. She noted that starting salaries at HarperCollins are about $30,000.


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Is Amazon a Danger Lurking in the Publishing Industry?

Is Amazon getting too big for its britches? Creating and positioning itself on a monopolistic throne where it can wield too much dictatorial power?

Victoria Barnsley, UK CEO of HarperCollins, thinks Amazon's presence and goals in publishing today are a big concern and says so in an article by Graeme Neill on TheBookseller.com:

Amazon publishing a "concern"—Barnsley

Amazon's move into publishing is a "concern" and the business is close to being in a monopolistic position, according to the c.e.o. of HarperCollins.

Victoria Barnsley was the latest book trade figure to appear on BBC Radio 4's "The Future of the Book" segment on "The World at One", broadcast today (16th August).

In a wide-ranging interview, she said she felt hardback prices would increase as they

increased in quality; digital fiction sales would be 50% of the category's total within two years; touched upon the News International phone-hacking row; and said the agent Andrew Wylie has apologised to her following a recent row where he accused the publisher of acting in a "shrill and punitive way" towards authors.

Barnsley described Amazon as a "very very powerful global competitor" of HarperCollins. She said: "I think Amazon's foray into book publishing . . . is obviously a concern . . . They are this weird thing. We can them 'frenemies'. They are also a very important customer of ours and they have done fantastic things for the book industry. I have mixed views about them but there's no doubt they are very very powerful now and in fact they are getting close to being in a monopolistic situation."

She described agents' attempts to secure greater digital royalties for their authors as a "bone of contention" between both parties. She said: "We would argue that we actually invest a huge amount in authors, invest a huge amount in marketing and reach. It is a bone of contention. I don't think we should be [in dispute] because what we add is of enormous value, which, say, the digital technology companies don't give."

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Related article: Amazon as publisher: What does it mean?



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HarperCollins & Apple Talking E-books for Tablet

More intrigue and drama in the publishing world! The much anticipated "Tablet" from Apple may debut with one more asset it seems: The ability to read books and newspapers! Soooo, one multi-media device for watching movies & TV, playing games, surfing the internet AND NOW to read e-books and newspapers... Hummmm, sounds pretty interesting...

From the online newspaper The Business Standard :

Publishing giant HarperCollins is in talks with Apple Inc to make electronic books available for the IT major's new tablet PC-- expected to be launched later this month, a media report says.

Attributing to people familiar with the situation, The Wall Street Journal said, "HarperCollins Publishers is negotiating with Apple Inc to make electronic books available for the introduction of a new tablet device from Apple."

The tablet, which is expected to be unveiled later this month, is likely to be a multimedia device that would let people watch movies and television shows, play games, surf the Internet and read electronic books and newspapers.

The report stated that HarperCollins is expected to set the prices of the e-books, which would have added features, with Apple taking a percentage of sales, but details have not been spelt out as yet.

However, it is not known yet whether Apple would sell the HarperCollins titles via a new e-book store or through its existing iTunes Store, which sells music, TV shows and movies.

The WSJ report cited people familiar with the matter as saying that other publishers have also met Apple officials.

Yesterday, Apple invited the media to a San Francisco event to be held on January 27 at which it is expected to unveil its tablet PC.

In December, HarperCollins Chief Executive Brian Murray had said e-books enhanced with video, author interviews and social-networking applications could command higher retail prices for publishers than current e-books.