The Basic Books Group, a division of Hachette Book Group, will add two new imprints to its portfolio following the promotion of Lara Heimert to president and publisher of the group, HBG and Hachette UK CEO David Shelley announced on November 7. Basic Venture, a business and economics imprint, will be led by editorial director Colleen Lawrie and executive editor Emily Taber, while Thomas Spence, the former president and publisher of Regnery Publishing, will lead Basic Liberty, a conservative imprint, as executive editor.
“The Basic Books Group has seen fantastic growth and success in recent years,” Shelley said in a statement.“They know their readership incredibly well and are able to serve their desire for serious non-fiction publishing by the leading authors in their fields across a range of different topics. Lara has grown and steered the group with incredible vision and precision; her promotion, and the investments we’re making with the two new imprints and other promotions and hires, are testament to the further potential for growth we see in this space and with this skilled team.”
Basic Venture will “build off PublicAffairs’ two decades of excellence in business publishing,” per HBG, publishing books by “leading experts” for “individuals and organizations who want to change the way they do business.” Basic Liberty, the publisher added, “will publish serious works of cultural, social, and political analysis by conservative writers of original thought.”
As a result of the moves, Brian Distelberg, in addition to his role as editor-in-chief of the Basic Books imprint, will serve as associate publisher of the Basic Books Group, overseeing “the editorial direction of Basic Venture alongside Basic Books, Seal Press, and PublicAffairs.” He has also been charged with hiring the next editorial director of PublicAffairs following the departure of Clive Priddle in September.
Heimert joined Basic Books in 2005 from Yale University Press, was promoted to VP and publisher of the imprint in 2012, and added Seal Press to her purview in 2019. She has been SVP and publisher of the Basic Books group since last year, and will directly oversee Bold Type Books and Basic Liberty.
“I am grateful to David Shelley for his support as we reimagine the Basic Books Group,” Heimert said in a statement. “As I have learned from working at Basic Books for 20 years, imprints with strong focus and category dominance are destined to succeed. In Thomas, Colleen, and Emily, we have editors with deep expertise in their respective areas of acquisition. And in Brian, we have a leader whose intellectual rigor and high standards for excellence will help me steer all six of the imprints towards greater success and profitability.”
This article has been updated with further information.
