Bruce Nichols has been named publisher of Little, Brown, filling a void that has been open since Reagan Arthur was hired as Sonny Mehta's replacement at Knopf.
Nichols, who is currently senior v-p and publisher of Houghton Mifflin, will take on the role of senior v-p and publisher at Little, Brown on May 4. It is a job that has been vacant since Arthur was named executive v-p and publisher of Knopf, Pantheon, and Schocken in late January, weeks after Mehta passed away.
In his announcement about the hire, Michael Pietsch, CEO of Hachette Book Group, said Nichols is someone who "has worked with great writers in literary fiction and commercial fiction and in narrative nonfiction, history, cookbooks, business, inspiration, and more. It’s rare to find someone with such editorial breadth and strong business skills."
At HMH since 2009, the announcement from Hachette noted that, during his tenure at the publisher, "he has led significant expansion of the company’s range of publishing and increased revenue more than 65%." Also, since 2019, Nichols has overseen the house's audiobook unit.
In addition to his executive achievements, Nichols has worked with a long list of notable and bestselling authors, including Tim Ferriss, Adam Hochschild, Tim O’Brien, Cynthia Ozick, and Paul Theroux. Hachette also noted that he has overseen "publishing programs for major commercial brands including The Whole30 and the Tolkien estate."
Nichols, who will be joining HBG's executive management board and reporting to Pietsch, said he has "long admired" Little, Brown. He went on: "Continuing their remarkable programs, and finding new opportunities for growth and innovation, is the challenge of a lifetime that I’m honored to accept."
