Unionized HarperCollins Employees Are Back to Work After a 3-Month Strike

But when she read through all the bullet-point detail, she said, “I sat back and was like, ‘This is incredible.’”

Among the aspects that impressed her, she said, were the overtime pay without manager approval, which she described as a break from industry norms, and measures such as compensating junior-level staff for taking on diversity and inclusion work, which typically went unpaid.

The contract “marks an inflection point in our industry,” she said. “This is about changing something for everyone, present and future.”

Publishing has long been a notoriously low-paying industry. It requires highly educated junior and midlevel staffers to work long hours, often doing the bulk of their reading after work, for relatively meager salaries while living in New York City, one of the most expensive housing markets in the country.

“Working in publishing is a lifestyle commitment,” said Molly McGhee, who had been an assistant editor with Tor/Forge Books, and left in 2022. After 10 years in the business, she found that the low pay and work demands typical of the industry were not tenable. “There’s so much work outside of work.”

In recent years, there has been increasing pressure on publishers to raise starting salaries, in part to help diversify the industry. Many in publishing say it can be difficult to live on those starting salaries without financial support from family, barring the entry of those who can’t count on outside financial help.

Macmillan, another large publisher, announced this month that it would increase its entry-level base salary to $47,500, from $42,000. Hachette Book Group said it would raise entry-level salaries for employees living in New York City and expensive markets to $47,500 a year, from $45,000.