Steve Rubin, president and publisher of Henry Holt since 2009, has announced that Ben Schrank will succeed him in those roles.
Currently heading up the children’s publisher Razorbill, Schrank will join Holt November 1 as senior v-p and publisher, reporting to Rubin, and on May 1 Schrank will add the president duties to his position, at which point he will report to Macmillan president Don Weisberg. After he turns over the reins to Schrank, Rubin will become Holt chairman and, he said in a message to employees, “work with specific authors and perhaps even occasionally acquiring projects." Coinciding with Schrank’s departure, the Penguin Young Readers Group has promoted Jen Klonsky and Casey McIntyre to positions that will take over Schrank's duties.
Rubin said that after a long period as a publisher at both Random House and Macmillan, “I think the time has come for a fresh pair of eyes to look at our publishing program and to reinvigorate the splendid people who make the magic happen.”
He said one of the reasons he chose Schrank as his successor is that “a good portion of Razorbill’s intellectual properties are internally generated. One of the few frustrations I have experienced at Holt is that we are too reliant on outside-originated properties.” Rubin added that in his talks with Schrank, he found that Schrank has “the perfect open sensibility for Holt’s unpredictable boutique style publishing program.”
Holt has been steadily profitable since Rubin took over, publishing a string of bestselling literary authors, creating the hugely successful Killing series by Bill O’Reilly, and, earlier this year, releasing the runaway bestseller Fire and Fury.
As a result of Schrank's departure, Penguin Young Readers has promoted Klonsky, previously v-p and publisher of Putnam Books for Young Readers, to the newly-created position of president and publisher of PBYR and Razorbill. Klonsky will oversee the editorial direction of both imprints, and newly reporting to her will be McIntyre, who has been promoted to v-p and publisher at Razorbill, from associate publisher, a position she has held since 2014.
