As part of the staff reductions announced last week by the Hachette Book Group, the company is closing its Business Plus imprint and folding the titles into the Grand Central Publishing list. Rick Wolff, founder of Business Plus, is one of the 28 HBG employees who has been let go.
According to GCP, beginning with books scheduled to be published from September 2014 onward, all business titles will be published on the main GCP list and backlist plus spring/summer 2014 titles will also be shifted onto the main list as they are reprinted.
Jamie Raab, president and publisher of GCP, said of this change, “Business books are truly mainstream. The broad range of topics they deal with reflects our concerns about every aspect of our lives. GCP’s major acquisitions in the business category are among our biggest non-fiction books each season. It is the right time to absorb Business Plus into the GCP list.”
Among the books that Wolff published were Jack Welch’s Jack: Straight from the Gut, Hank Paulson’s On the Brink, Coach Mike Krzyzewski’s Leading from the Heart, Tony Hsieh’s Delivering Happiness, Robert Kiyosaki’s Rich Dad Poor Dad, Ted Turner’s Call Me Ted, Dr. Robert Sutton’s The No Asshole Rule, and Captain D. Michael Abrashoff’s It’s Your Ship.
HBG confirmed that two other well-known editors were part of the layoff, but declined to confirm their names.
