NEW YORK (AP) — The editor of such best-selling novels as Liane Moriarty's “Big Little Lies” and Kathryn Stockett's “The Help” is joining a division of Penguin Random House. Amy Einhorn, who departs next week as president and publisher of Henry Holt and Company, will begin as senior vice president and publisher of fiction at Crown Publishing Group on Oct. 2.
“Over the course of her career, Amy’s exceptional editorial taste and astute commercial instincts have helped shape the modern fiction market,” Crown President David Drake wrote in a company memo shared Wednesday with The Associated Press.
Crown has been known in recent years for such nonfiction bestsellers as former President Barack Obama's “Promised Land” and former first lady Michelle Obama's “Becoming” and the hiring of Einhorn is part of an effort to boost its fiction. Einhorn's mandate will be “to build an impactful fiction program comprised of approximately 20 titles published each year,” according to Drake.
“I am confident that with her superlative energy, creativity, and drive, Amy will re-establish a vibrant fiction program at Crown, one that will serve as a cornerstone of our division’s long-term growth strategy,” Drake wrote.
Einhorn previously ran her own imprint at Penguin, Amy Einhorn Books, and also served as publisher of Flatiron Books, where her notable releases included Jeanine Cummins' controversial “American Dirt,” a million-selling novel despite criticisms that it included Hispanic stereotypes and misrepresentations of Hispanic culture. Einhorn's other projects have included Moriarty's “Nine Perfect Strangers,” Laurie Frankel's “This Is How It Always Is” and Yangsze Choo’s “The Night Tiger.”
Earlier this year, Crown Publishing Group became a separate division of Penguin Random House, part of a broader corporate reorganization.
Henry Holt is part of Macmillan Publishers U.S., where CEO Jon Yaged issued a company memo this week wishing Einhorn “continued success as she begins the next phase of her distinguished publishing career.” Holt's authors in recent years have included Hilary Mantel, Michael Wolff and Rick Atkinson. While Holt seeks a replacement for Einhorn, the publisher will be led by Jamie Raab, who has previously run or helped run the Macmillan imprint Celadon Books and the Hachette Book Group imprint Grand Central Publishing. She is currently a publisher-at-large at Macmillan.
Hillel Italie, The Associated Press
