Q&A with HarperStudio’s Bob Miller

Today on Fifth Estate we feature a special Q&A with Bob Miller, President and Publisher of HarperStudio in New York. Launched last year, HarperStudio has been hailed as a radical and innovative experiment challenging traditional publishing models. Recently, we were given the chance to ask Bob a few questions about himself and his latest publishing venture. 

Can you tell us a little bit about yourself

I’m 52 years old, in my 31st year in book publishing. I started as an editorial assistant at St. Martin’s Press, where I became an editor and where I spent my first eight years. Then I was senior editor at Warner Books, then editorial director at Delacorte Press, then I was hired by Disney to start up Hyperion in 1990, which I ran until I left a year ago to start HarperStudio.

At the time Harper Studio was launched the experimental business model behind it was praised as being “radical and innovative” and even “revolutionary”. For readers unfamiliar with Harper Studio, can you explain this model and tell us a little about how it has worked in practice?

HarperStudio is trying to get off of the big advance merry-go-round by paying authors maximum advances of $100,000 against their fifty percent of the profits (instead of a traditional royalty). We’re also trying to get booksellers to buy non-returnably, and focusing our marketing online. The lower advance/profit share approach has meant that out of the first 50 titles we’ve acquired, more than 40 have been generated from some direct relationship with an author, as opposed to from winning an auction in a multiple submission. We’ve managed to entice several major booksellers into going non-returnable with us, but we’ve had to offer a choice of returnable/non-returnable, since the mass merchant accounts won’t consider non-returnable, and many of the indies can’t afford the risk. We’re having a lot of fun with the online marketing, and some early successes. But we clearly aren’t the only publishers working in that direction.

Are there any other unconventional publishers you admire?

I admire what Roger Cooper is doing at Vanguard, where he is offering a high royalty and a marketing commitment in lieu of any advances, publishing mostly commercial fiction. And I’ve always been a fan of Peter Workman, who has been publishing brilliant successful books without paying large advances for more than forty years.

There are some pretty big names and personalities on the Harper Studio publishing list. Any colourful stories?

We’re publishing Fifty Cent and Robert Greene’s collaboration, THE 50TH LAW, this September. In all our meetings with Fifty’s staff, I kept fumbling over what to call him—somehow “Fiddy” doesn’t work for me, and I don’t want to say “Mr. Cent.” So finally his manager said, “Just call him Curtis, ok?”

What books have had a lasting impact on you?

As a reader, I’d pick books by Ken Kesey, Jorge Luis Borges, Kurt Vonnegut—authors who blew my young mind. As a publisher, I’m most proud of books that have stood the test of time, such as Jon Kabat-Zinn’s Wherever You Go, There You Are, Mitch Albom’s The Five People You Meet In Heaven, and Randy Pausch’s The Last Lecture.

How do you predict the publishing industry will look in 20 years time? Will physical books be gone?

I don’t think that physical books will be gone in twenty years, but they will be treated more as collectibles. In the same way that the migration to e-mail has made the handwritten letter stand out as especially meaningful, I think that certain books will be collected or given as gifts in physical form because doing so will be even more significant than it is now.

Do you see the ascendancy of devices like the iPhone transforming the digital book market and leading it away from current e-readers and e-books?

Yes, I think that most digital reading will be on smartphones eventually. We all make popcorn, but only a few of us need to own a dedicated popcorn-making machine.

Are there any authors, living or dead, who you’ve dreamed of working with?

I’d like to work with Wally Lamb, Scott Turow, and Stephen King. They manage to entertain me while making me think in new ways.

What are you reading right now?

I just read Lee Child’s new Jack Reacher novel, Gone Tomorrow, and am halfway through Mark Frost’s upcoming Game Six (I don’t usually read sports books, but Frost is a genius storyteller and this one is one of his best).

In your career in publishing, what professional achievements are you most proud of?

I’m most proud of Hyperion, because at age 18 it has reached its adulthood and is thriving on its own. I’m looking forward to being able to say that about HarperStudio 18 years from now.

Check out the HarperStudio blog here.