![]() “Alfred Knopf must be turning in his grave,” says writer Steven M.L. In certain uptown literati circles, this is like watching a Borzoi be fed to a wood chipper. And two top editors, Shelley Wanger and Jonathan Segal, are taking the buyout, too. Longtime publicity chief Nicholas Latimer will go, as will head of production Andy Hughes, who has for decades given Knopf books their literary sheen. The Knopf Doubleday group is losing Victoria Wilson (she published Anne Rice and Lorrie Moore and wrote an 860-page Barbara Stanwyck book - and that’s just volume one!), Ann Close (edited Lawrence Wright, Alice Munro, and Norman Rush), and managing editor Kathy Hourigan, who has worked with Robert Caro on all his books dating back to The Power Broker. Those departing include Viking editors Wendy Wolf (there since 1994, her writers have included Nathaniel Philbrick, John Barry, and Steven Pinker) Rick Kot (he’s edited Barbra Streisand, Andrew Ross Sorkin, and Ray Kurzweil), and Paul Slovak (Amor Towles, Elizabeth Gilbert, and David Byrne). They ruled the best-seller lists with their golden guts, and no one in accounting ever balked at their expense-account lunches at The Four Seasons. Many who are leaving came up in an era in which editors were truly autonomous, and sometimes as famous as their writers. Many of the most influential editors have quietly decided to take the buyout, some for fear of being laid off later, others because they simply no longer recognize the place at which they’ve spent their entire careers. There were layoffs Monday, but what’s really transforming the publishing house are the buyouts currently underway. An executive named Nihar Malaviya has since taken over and is steering the company through this post-pandemic period, when sales are down across the industry and costs of goods and services are up. operations Madeline McIntosh, who left in late January. Penguin Random House, the biggest book publisher in America, is cleaning house.Īfter CEO Markus Dohle failed in his attempted megamerger with Simon & Schuster last fall, he departed in December. Compared with the previous two years, the overall sales in 2023 have been down across the industry, though the numbers are still higher than the last pre-pandemic year, 2019.Photo-Illustration: Intelligencer Photo: Richard Baker / In Pictures via Getty Images HarperCollins and Hachette Book Group are among other publishers who have offered buyouts in recent months. Knopf has not yet announced a new editor for the fifth volume. In June, Robert Gottlieb, a former Knopf editor in chief who worked on all of Robert Caro’s Lyndon B. CEO Madeline McIntosh left within months of PRH’s failed attempt to purchase rival publisher Simon & Schuster, a deal struck down last fall by a federal judge. Global company Chief Executive Markus Dohle and U.S. The departures at the country’s largest publishing house also follow numerous other high-profile changes. ![]() The buyouts and layoffs come amid a broader reorganization at Penguin Random House, which this year overhauled its Random House and Crown divisions. Company Town Judge blocks Penguin Random House takeover of Simon & Schusterīiden administration receives a clear victory, with the judge ruling the blockbuster merger would diminish competition in book publishing.
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