. . . rate, or review or in any other way promote any book published by HarperCollins. Period. I refuse to support a publisher that supports a stalker.
Will such a boycott harm innocent authors? Well, if I'm the only one boycotting, then probably not. And as far as I know KH is the only HarperCollins author who has stalked and harassed a reviewer to the extent she did. All the other HC authors, then, are innocent and by some reasoning don't deserve to be boycotted.
Let's be honest with ourselves. Brutally honest. Let's admit that we really just don't want to deprive ourselves of the pleasure of reading those other authors. We're sympathetic to Blythe Harris's plight and we really think that author was totally 100% wrong, but doing without our favorite HC authors, well, that's more sacrifice than some of us want to make. And so we're hiding behind the excuse that we don't want to hurt innocent authors.
Blythe Harris was stalked, harassed, and silenced.
The message being sent right now by HarperCollins is that they have no problem with that. They really don't care about Blythe Harris or about any other reviewer. The silence from the HC authors also says they have no problem with it. They don't care that Blythe Harris was silenced for not liking a book.
Right now, HarperCollins is supporting, with their contract and with their silence, an author who proudly admitted stalking a reviewer who didn't like her book. They are implicitly saying to all their authors, "Hey, if you want to stalk and harass and threaten people who find fault with your books, go right ahead."
How much solidarity are you, as readers and reviewers and maybe even as authors, willing to show with Blythe Harris? Are you willing to do without a few books over the next few months? Are you willing to say to your favorite HC authors, in effect, "Sorry, but I can't buy or promote your books. I can't support a publisher -- who makes more off your books than you do anyway -- who supports stalking. I just can't."
If you can't do that much, then I guess maybe you really don't have a problem with supporting a stalker either.
A full list of HarperCollins imprints is here and includes Avon, Harper, Harlequin, William Morrow, Thomas Nelson and Zondervan Christian, HarperCollins Children's, and Caedmon audio books.
If the HC authors aren't speaking out because they're constrained by the company, then that is another reason to boycott. If the authors aren't speaking out because their afraid, then that is another reason. And if they aren't speaking out because they agree with the stalking, then that is yet another reason.
HarperCollins, which is a part of the Rupert Murdoch News Corporation empire, is not going to do the right thing just because it's the right thing to do. Corporations don't operate that way. Their sole motive is profit. If their silence can be shown to harm their bottom line, then and only then will they do the right thing.
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