Stephen Rubin: New President Of Henry Holt

Finally, some news from the publishing world's revolving door: Macmillan announced this Tuesday that Stephen Rubin, former publisher at Doubleday, will be appointed as president and publisher of Henry Holt, the imprint that published recent Booker Prize winner Wolf Hall, and the original publisher of Robert Frost.

Rubin, who went from music journalism to becoming publisher at Bantam, has been in the industry for 25 years and was at the helm of Doubleday when many successful authors were published including John Grisham, Dan Brown, Pat Conroy, Ian McEwan, Tina Brown, Bill Moyers, and Bill O'Reilly. He headed Doubleday also when editor Jason Kaufman's acquisition, The Da Vinci Code, was published by the imprint. Dan Farley, the previous president of Holt, will turn his focus to the Macmillan Children's Publishing Group, where he has been president and publisher since last year. Rubin will report to John Sargent, Macmillan CEO, who calls Rubin a "rare publishing talent."

Says Sargent:

With Holt's long and prestigious history and Steve's remarkable taste and track record of success in both the literary and commercial sides of the business, I look forward to a prosperous future for Holt. We are very enthusiastic about the future of the trade book business, and the addition of Steve Rubin will allow us to significantly expand the Macmillan portfolio.

Here is Rubin's statement:

I am so excited by the opportunity to work at Holt, one of the venerable companies in publishing. Throughout my career, I have always strived to publish those exceptional books that bridge the gap between commerce and literature. I believe that Holt is the perfect place to do this, given that its sister companies are the distinguished Farrar Straus and the powerhouse St. Martin's Press, I can't wait to work more directly with books and authors in developing a tight, powerful, focused list. I am also eager to partner with some of the most talented people in the industry, many of whom are dear friends.

Holt has a checkered history of publishers who over-spent and underperformed -- this is a moment many will be watching.

Comments

[brettrobbins]

Who cares? Haven't you noticed: publishing companies are obsolete.

[Ergon]

As someone who has 3000+ books in his library and passed on a love of reading to his children, I certainly hope not. There's no substitute for the feel of a good book in your hand, so screw Kindle and instantly forgotten weblogs. On the other hand, if they can't publish books people would be willing to pay $24.95 for, they deserve whatever. Hint: no celebrity memoirs, please, we can get that free off the Internet, and your taste in 'literature' is too angsty and middle class neurotic.
Hint: People want self-help and spiritual books right now.

[brettrobbins]

Don't get me wrong, Ergon: I'm a BIG fan of real books, and my shelves are loaded with (an ever increasing number of) books, too. But with self-publishing services like Lulu.com, and the ability to network and share one's ideas on the Internet through various, often extremely well-targeted venues, it's no longer necessary to worry about whether or not one is published in the traditional sense of the term. Now it's possible to create your own REAL (i.e., profession­al-looking and -feeling) books through self-publishing services; hence my comment "publishing companies are obsolete." My beef is not with books (I LOVE THEM!) but with old-school publishing companies thinking they'll continue indefinitely to wield the (often soul-crushing) power they once did. Everything is becoming democratized via the Internet, including book-publishing. So I agree with you, books rule! But publishing companies are superfluous intermediary entities; and those who work for them are learning slowly but surely that they'll eventually be out of a job and will no longer be able to make a living off the backs of the writers who have up to now depended on them for their livelihood. It's a whole new game now, and will become more and more so as things progress along these lines. I love it.