Simon & Schuster is partnering with radio and TV personality and Christmas Sweater author Glenn Beck on a global, multi-book, multi-imprint co-publishing agreement. A number of S&S imprints will be involved in the program, which will encompass adult fiction and nonfiction, children’s picture books and fiction, YA literature, and e-book and audiobook originals. S&S companies in the U.K., Canada and Australia will publish Beck’s books in their respective markets.
The first projects under the partnership will be an original audio, America’s March to Socialism, read by Beck (May), and Glenn Beck’s Common Sense, Beck’s take on Thomas Paine’s classic, which will be published first as an e-book and then as a trade paperback in June. In September, Threshold Editions will release the nonfiction hardcover Arguing with Idiots. Common Sense and Arguing with Idiots will also be available as audiobooks.
Beck has a successful history with S&S, including three consecutive bestsellers. Threshold executive v-p and publisher Louise Burke said, “When Glenn first published The Real America with us in 2003, he was a rising radio talk show star. Six years later he has amassed an audience of millions across radio, television and publishing, and proven to be one of the few authors who can deliver a number-one bestseller in both fiction and nonfiction.” Beck commented, “I can think of no better place to create such a unique and pioneering publishing program. This partnership gives me the incredible freedom to publish books across multiple platforms and for all different ages.”
George Hiltzik of N.S. Bienstock represented Beck in the agreement. Kevin Balfe, Beck’s co-author on previous books, will oversee the partnership on behalf of Beck’s production company, Mercury Radio Arts. Liz Perl, senior v-p of marketing, will act as a strategic coordinator for the Glenn Beck publishing program across all S&S divisions and imprints.
