Robert Miller, founding publisher and president of Hyperion, is stepping down from his post to join HarperCollins in a new publishing venture, the New York Times reported. With Miller at the helm, HarperCollins is developing a book "studio" that will implement profit sharing with authors, doing away with cash advances. The group will also attempt to eliminate bookseller returns.
"The idea is 'Let's take all of the things that we think are wrong with this business and try to change them," Miller told Motoko Rich of the New York Times. "It really seemed to require a start-up from scratch because it will be very experimental."
The new division plans to publish about twenty-five books per year and will likely offer all of its titles in e-book and digital audio versions, providing an increasingly tech-savvy readership with "information in any form that they want," said Jane Friedman, president and CEO of HarperCollins. Books will be published in hardcover and priced at around twenty dollars each.
Miller said that the new group would offer little or no advances, instead dividing profits fifty-fifty with authors (the average royalty rate for authors is 15 percent). As returns of unsold copies are eliminated, the publisher's savings on shipping and pulping costs may be passed on to authors as well.
On April 14, Miller will assume his new role at HarperCollins. Ellen Archer, previously the publisher of Hyperion, has succeeded Miller as president.
