Hachette Book Group is launching a new imprint called Legacy Lit, “dedicated to books for and by people of color.” Executive editor Krishan Trotman has been promoted and will lead the line as vp and publisher. A part of the Perseus Books division, reporting to Susan Weinberg, Legacy Lit will publish 12 to 15 titles a year across a number of genres, “that give voice to issues authors, and communities that have been marginalized, underserved, and overlooked.” The first titles will be released in 2022. CEO Michael Pietsch says, “I am very excited about this new imprint and grateful to Krishan Trotman for conceiving it and bringing us to this point. Now more than ever, culture shifting publishing professionals like Krishan bring essential leadership and vision.”
Trotman says, “Fifteen years in book publishing have revealed to me a consistent craving by BIPOC authors, readers, and publishing insiders. That craving is to be understood, to be ‘seen.’ Legacy Lit will be a home for writers where there’s a core understanding of culture and diversity. It’s an imprint where authors and staff can feel seen and heard, where books will be acquired, promoted and read by a team that authentically identifies with BIPOC authors.”
Separately, Miami Herald executive editor Aminda Marqués González will join Simon & Schuster as vp, executive editor on November 30, working from Miami. S&S publisher Dana Canedy notes, “Both newspapers and book publishing are too Northeast-centric.” Marqués is also currently co-chair of the Pulitzer Prize Board, where Canedy had been administrator.
More broadly, Canedy tells the NYT, “I want everyone publishing what would formerly have been thought of as 37 Ink books. Not to say we didn’t have books by and about people of color, but all of the books we acquire by and about people of color should be Simon & Schuster books.” Founded by Dawn Davis as part of the Atria Publishing Group, 37 Ink was moved to the S&S adult imprint in 2019. When Davis departed to run Bon Appetit the company had indicated the 37 Ink list would be absorbed into the S&S list. The other 37 Ink editor Chelcee Johns moved to Ballantine earlier this month.
Mike Bzozowski has been promoted to business affairs counsel at Harper Christian.
Nicole Fiorica has been promoted to associate editor at McElderry Books. At Simon & Schuster Children’s, Amanda Ramirez has been promoted to associate editor, and Dainese Santos has been promoted to assistant editor.
Nekasha Pratt has joined Harper Christian as senior director of marketing for fiction books for Thomas Nelson and Zondervan. She was most recently director of marketing for the Tennessee Department of Tourist Development.
Former Homeland Security chief of staff Miles Taylor revealed himself as the author of A WARNING by Anonymous. As the New Republic observes, many of Taylor’s statements are at odds with his role of having “helped spin the administration’s family separation policy — perhaps the most morally abhorrent policy of an administration that specializes in abhorrent policies — as being about ‘protecting children.'”
Note that some accounts erroneously indicate Taylor donated all of his book proceeds. At the time of the deal his agents said only that he was “donating a substantial portion of any royalties to charities that protect those seeking the truth around the world.” And in his own post, Taylor says he “pledged to donate the bulk of the proceeds.” On a standard royalty basis, tracked sales to date of print and ebook editions in the US would have yielded gross proceeds of a little over $1 million.
Distribution
Baker & Taylor has resumed selling to academic libraries.