Chip and Joanna Gaines Launch Magnolia Imprint with Harper

Chip and Joanna Gaines are expanding their Magnolia franchise into a publishing imprint in partnership with HarperCollins. The new imprint, Magnolia Publications, is named after the couple’s empire of Magnolia-branded realty properties, restaurants, and retail outlets.

Matt Baugher, senior v-p of author and partnership development and publisher for all HC imprints, says Magnolia books will focus on “incredible voices and talents to bring to readers around the world.” There is not a set number of releases under the Magnolia imprint per year, and titles will cross multiple genres, he adds. Baugher will coordinate the venture alongside Liate Stehlik, president of HC's Morrow Group.

“Should a project be deemed as a good fit for the Magnolia Publications imprint, that book will be assigned the Harper division most skilled at bringing that particular book to market,” Baugher tells PW. “Both Harper and Magnolia will edit the content as well as promote the releases upon publication.”

Inaugural titles for the imprint are The Road to JOY by Baylor men’s basketball coach Scott Drew, to be published with W Publishing, an imprint of Thomas Nelson and part of the HarperCollins Christian family, on May 3. Next, The Ranch Table, a cookbook by Elizabeth Poett, is coming from Morrow in fall 2023.

In a statement, Chip Gaines said that he and his wife Joanna had been “changed for the better” by the stories of inspiring people over the past few years. “We’re convinced that there are far more stories out there that need to be told,” Gaines said. “That’s our hope for Magnolia Publications—that it would be a source of storytelling where people walk away encouraged and inspired.”

Magnolia Publications is the latest bookish project for Joanna Gaines, who is the author of bestsellers The Magnolia Story (Thomas Nelson, 2016), Magnolia Table (William Morrow, 2018), and Homebody (Harper Design, 2018). Gaines also wrote two children's books, We Are the Gardeners, published by Tommy Nelson in 2019, and The World Needs Who You Were Made to Be (Thomas Nelson, 2020).