Apr 16 2024
Five publishers have joined the lawsuit filed last November 30 against Iowa over its book banning and anti-GLBQT law, meaning that plaintiffs now include all the Big Five U.S. publishers. The Iowa law would forbid school libraries and classrooms from carrying books describing or showing a "sex act," with the exception of religious texts like the Bible; prohibit educators from discussing "gender identity" and "sexual orientation" with students from kindergarten through sixth grade; and require school administrators to notify parents when students ask to change anything relating to their gender identity, such as their names or pronouns.
The five additional publishers are Hachette Book Group, HarperCollins, Macmillan, Simon & Schuster, and Sourcebooks. Plaintiffs who filed the original lawsuit were Penguin Random House, authors Laurie Halse Anderson, John Green, Malindo Lo, and Jodi Picoult, the Iowa State Education Association, a high school student, her parent, and three educators; that suit focused on the book-banning aspects of the law. Another suit focusing on the anti-GLBQT aspects of the law was filed by seven students and the GLBT Youth in Iowa Schools Task Force, supported by the ACLU and Lambda Legal.
Apr 02 2024
As you’re racing through a thriller or romance novel, you’re not thinking about the fonts or layout on each page. But a designer has spent hours poring over each element on the page to create the most delightful reading experience. Just ask Leah Carlson-Stanisic, associate director of design at HarperCollins, one of the four biggest publishing houses in the the world. When a manuscript comes across her desk, she considers what font best expresses the content. Historical fiction might warrant a font created in the 1800s. A book about technology might require a more recent sans serif. “It’s 30% experience and 70% intuition,” she says. But over the past three years, HarperCollins’s designers have put their skills toward a new mission: saving paper. In an effort to reduce the carbon footprint of each book, they’re tweaking fonts, layout, and even the ink used. The goal is to pack more into each page, while ensuring that the pages are as readable as ever. And so far, these subtle, imperceptible tweaks have saved 245.6 million pages, equivalent to 5,618 trees.
Jan 29 2024
N Scott Momaday, a Pulitzer prize-winning storyteller, poet, educator and folklorist whose debut novel House Made of Dawn is widely credited as the starting point for contemporary Native American literature, has died. He was 89.
Momaday died on Wednesday at his home in Santa Fe, New Mexico, publisher HarperCollins announced. He had been in failing health.
“Scott was an extraordinary person and an extraordinary poet and writer. He was a singular voice in American literature, and it was an honor and a privilege to work with him,” Momaday’s editor, Jennifer Civiletto, said in a statement. “His Kiowa heritage was deeply meaningful to him and he devoted much of his life to celebrating and preserving Native American culture, especially the oral tradition.”
Aug 04 2023
Three major news outlets are reporting that the sale of Simon & Schuster will likely be announced as soon as next week. A Reuters report said that the final three bidders are HarperCollins, the private equity firm KKR, and Richard Hurowitz of the investment firm Octavian & Company, who has the backing of the Abu Dhabi-based sovereign wealth manager Mubadala Investment Co.
The New York Times has the final bidders as HC and KKR, while the Wall Street Journal said KKR was in advanced talks to buy the publishers. (One rumor that was making the rounds was that Barnes & Noble owner Elliott Advisors was making a bid. If that was true, they did not make the final cut based on the new reports). The second round of bids was due by the end of July.
Feb 17 2023
After three months on strike, unionized HarperCollins employees will return to work on February 21 after voting 194-10 to ratify a labor agreement with the publisher that includes a higher minimum salary and new benefits.
“We are pleased that the agreement was ratified," HC said in a statement. "We are excited to move forward together.”
According to Local 2110 of the UAW, the union that represents unionized HarperCollins employees, the contract "achieves improved compensation and benefits, including higher minimums, guaranteed annual increases for everyone rated above 'unsatisfactory,' two hours of overtime without approval for lowest paid employees, improved union rights with release time during work hours, paid time to participate in the joint labor-management committee and company’s diversity initiatives, improved paid time off, and ability to continue to work remotely until July 1."
In terms of minimum salaries, the lowest salary, $47,500, will increase to $48,500 in January 2024 and go up to $50,000 in January 2025.
Feb 10 2023
After three months of negotiations and two weeks after announcing plans to resume labor negotiations, HarperCollins has reached a tentative agreement with its employee union, Local 2110 of the United Auto Workers.
In a February 9 announcement, the union said that the agreement calls for unspecified increases to minimum salaries, which currently start at $45,000. The new deal also includes a one-time, $1,500 lump sum bonus to be paid to employees from the union's bargaining unit once the contract is ratified. The contract will extend through December 31, 2025.
Feb 09 2023
Macmillan Publishers will increase its entry-level base salary to $47,500, effective April 1. Additional adjustments will be made to current salary bands to reflect this change. The previous starting salary was $42,000.
The change comes on the heels of Hachette Book Group's announcement last week that it will increase its entry-level starting salary in New York City and other "high-cost office locations" to $47,500.
HarperCollins and Penguin Random House have starting salaries of $45,000, while Simon & Schuster's base salary rate is $50,000.
The 250 members of the HarperCollins union have been on strike since November 10 demanding that the Murdoch owned company raise its minimum starting salary from $45,000 to $50,000; address the lack of diversity in its workforce; and provide more security for unionized workers. HarperCollins is the only major book publisher in the U.S. to be unionized.
Jan 31 2023
HarperCollins, which laid off a "small number" of workers last fall, is taking more drastic steps to reduce its workforce, and plans to cut 5% of its employees in North America by the end of the current fiscal year, which ends June 30. Some jobs were eliminated today.
In a memo to employees, HC CEO Brian Murray wrote that the sales surge the industry and HarperCollins experienced during the pandemic has “slowed significantly as of late.”
In addition to lagging demand, Murray pointed to “unprecedented supply chain and inflationary pressures.
HC has a worldwide workforce of about 4,000, with its largest operations located in the U.S. and Canada. The news of the layoffs comes a few days after HC said it had agreed to work with a mediator in an attempt to end the ongoing strike by some 240 union members.
The House on Biscayne Bay
by Chanel Cleeton
As death stalks a gothic mansion in Miami, the lives of two women intertwine as the past and present collide.
The Flower Sisters
by Michelle Collins Anderson
From the new Fannie Flagg of the Ozarks, a richly-woven story of family, forgiveness, and reinvention.
The Funeral Cryer by Wenyan Lu
Debut novelist Wenyan Lu brings us this witty yet profound story about one woman's midlife reawakening in contemporary rural China.
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