In a memo to Macmillan employees, Steve Rubin announced that, having just completed his 10th year at the company’s Henry Holt division, “this is the perfect time to move on.”
Rubin was recruited by Macmillan CEO John Sargent to re-energize Holt and, in his own memo to Macmillan employees, Sargent said Rubin had accomplished that goal and more. “In the last decade [Rubin] has published many of our biggest books, and Holt has the best years in its long history under his watch,” Sargent wrote. “He leaves us with a remarkable track record.”
One of Rubin’s biggest recent bestsellers was Michael Wolff’s Fire and Fury. Among the other authors he has published are Rick Atkinson, Paul Auster, Carl Bernstein, Tina Brown, Andy Cohen, Billy Crystal, Sebastian Faulks, Atul Gawande, Tristram Hunt, Elton John, Elizabeth Kolbert, Rob Lowe, Hilary Mantel, and Tim Weiner. Bill O’Reilly’s bestselling Killing series was also created under Rubin’s watch.
Rubin has served as chairman of Holt since May 2019 after turning over the duties of publisher and president to Ben Schrank. Last fall, Macmillan replaced Schrank with Amy Einhorn, who was previously executive v-p and publisher of Macmillan’s Flatiron Books division.
In his note, Rubin said that his time at Holt “has been among the happiest in my career.” He joined Holt after spending 30 years, as he put it, “at various incarnations of Bantam Doubleday Dell and Random House.” He also suggested he is not ready for retirement. “And what of the future?” Rubin wrote. “Watch this space.”
