
Speaking earlier today on BBC Radio 4, Andrew Wylie, the literary agent, expressed his thoughts on HarperCollins, the publishing house owned by Rupert Murdoch’s News Corporation.
According to The Bookseller, a British industry publication, Wylie said he had personally told Mr. Murdoch that HarperCollins should be “looked after a little more closely,” and added that the increased scrutiny on the company recently “will perhaps turn on some lights in rooms that have been left dark previously and look more closely at what is profitable and what is not and what is proper behaviour and what isn’t.”
Mr. Wylie made no reference to any specific instances of impropriety, saying only that the heads of HarperCollins have been “unusually shrill and punitive towards authors.”
Whether this warrants the kinds of investigations and resignations reverberating around other segments of Murdoch’s empire is unclear. We wrote Mr. Wylie earlier requesting elaboration, but did not receive a reply.
A HarperCollins spokesperson told The Bookseller, “The more mundane truth is that HarperCollins have had differences of opinion on business matters with Mr Wylie in recent times.” And on Twitter, there was a choice re-tweet on the HarperCollins feed referencing Mr. Wylie.