After five years, Simon & Schuster ceo Jonathan Karp will step down from his leadership position once a replacement is selected, when he will become publisher of a new Simon Six imprint. He suggests in an announcement that this plan has been in mind for some time: “Simon and Schuster is on a great growth trajectory right now, and it has been a privilege to lead the company for the last five years. When KKR acquired Simon & Schuster, I agreed to stay on through the transition, but my north star has always been our authors and their books, and I have decided it’s time for me to return to the part of publishing that animates me the most. I remain deeply committed to our mission and am excited to remain a devoted shareholder who will support our next leader and the entire team however I can.”
The new imprint will publish six books a year — evoking Hachette Book Group’s Twelve imprint, which Karp had founded. “For Simon Six, I will acquire and edit half as many books each year and publish them with twice as much emphasis, in partnership with many of the same colleagues I’ve enjoyed working alongside for years.”
On the new website, Karp writes: “What am I looking to publish? Some of the best books I’ve worked on have been about things I knew little or nothing about, so I’m especially interested in authors who will enlighten me while intriguing me. Like many editors, I want to help put books into the world that expand our understanding, challenge orthodoxies, and are useful, artful, and irresistibly interesting.”
Simon Six will likely launch some time in 2026 though the exact start has not been determined. Karp has at least one author lined up, and there are a few other authors of his under contract to the company who may or may not elect to move to the new imprint. “I don’t want them to be forced into it,” he said.
Karp informed executive staff at 9:30 Tuesday morning, and he wrote to S&S colleagues: “One of the reasons I’m announcing this news now is to avoid a distraction this fall, when we will be publishing so many great books.” He promises, “Work at Simon & Schuster will be business as usual for the foreseeable future: focused on being the best partner for our authors and their books.”
As he explained to PL, “I came back from the London Book Fair and thought, ‘I don’t ever want to go to another book fair again.’ So I informed Richard Sarnoff and then I informed the board at our May meeting. We’ve been working for the last few months figuring out a way to do this smoothly…. The whole purpose of doing it now was not to be disruptive to the company” as they prepare for “our biggest and best fall season ever. It’s epic.” But also, he observes, “One of the things every good book editor loves is a good ending, and that is what I’m personally striving for.”
That “epic fall season” boasts memoirs by Arundhati Roy, Kamala Harris, Malala Yousefzai, Charlie Sheen, Allen Iverson, Cameron Crowe, Gucci Mane, Susan Orlean, Shonda Rhimes, Spinal Tap & Rob Reiner, Jen Hatmaker, John Malone, Bobbi Brown, Anthony Kennedy, and Scott Galloway — plus more nonfiction from Walter Isaacson, David McCullough, Sanjay Gupta, Jake Tapper, and Ben Shapiro. And fiction releases include books by John Irving, Janet Evanovich, Nelson DeMille, and Mona Awad, plus “a debut novel that has provoked such rhapsodic responses that it’s likely to become a bestseller: To The Moon and Back by Eliana Ramage.”
On the state of the publisher now, Karp says, “We’re having a good year, and it could be a great year.” More broadly, “We’re growing. The company is solidly profitable,” and “we’re in a really good place now.” At the same time, he observed, “I think S&S will benefit from a new leader with a fresh perspective, and I will benefit from doing more of what I love doing.” He expects that an executive with “a visionary business mind is more likely to help us with the kind of growth that we need” going forward, while his “mind is really on the books.”
Karp plans to continue to supervise the actual publishing program — with the publishing divisions and imprints still reporting to him — while the new ceo is being oriented, and until that person decides how they want that responsibility structured. And he promises to let go as soon soon as possible: “I will be very happy to cede all responsibilities to the ceo without a twinge of regret. When I’m in the office, I’ll be on another floor and far away from the action. I will be reading.”
KKR’s Ted Oberwager and Richard Sarnoff, who serve on the S&S board, comment: “Under Jon Karp’s exceptional leadership over the past five years, Simon & Schuster has demonstrated remarkable resilience and growth in an evolving publishing landscape. His strategic vision and commitment to literary excellence have strengthened the company immeasurably, attracted new/renowned authors and reinforced its legacy as a premier global publisher. We are thrilled to launch the new Simon Six imprint under Jon’s leadership. There is no better shaper of books.”
The recruitment firm Spencer Stuart is leading the search for S&S’s new ceo. (Karp notes that Spencer Stuart executive Jim Citrin should be known to publishing people as the author of the classic book, YOU’RE IN CHARGE–NOW WHAT?)
Karp, who is 61, told the NYT, “One of my favorite writers is Jerry Seinfeld, and he says a good performer knows when to get off the stage,” Karp said. “This is my version of a tight, five minute monologue — except it’s been five years, which seems like enough to me.”
Simon & Schuster board member and former ceo of Penguin Random House US Madeline McIntosh, told the paper, “Think about what they’ve had to experience, and what he’s had to manage as a leader,” referring to the blocked sale to PRH followed by the acquisition by KKR. “It was five years, but for him it must have felt like 15.” McIntosh, who is now ceo of the start-up Authors Equity, told PL that she is not interested in the S&S job.