Frustrated by what she described to PW as an inability to track the careers of authors picked for her Read with Jenna book club, Jenna Bush Hager, through her media company Thousand Voices, has formed Thousand Voices x RHPG in a joint venture with the Random House Publishing Group.
Under the deal, Bush Hager will look to bring debut authors as well as emerging writers to the new venture. She acknowledged that “emerging writer” can mean a lot of things, but she noted that the category is not dependent on age: one of her acquisitions, she noted, is by a 61-year-old British mystery author. For now, Bush Hager’s first six titles include five debuts and one sophomore novel.
Books signed by Bush Hager will be published by different RHPG imprints depending on the subject. The first Thousand Voices x RHPG book will be published under the Ballantine imprint this October. Conform is the debut novel by Ariel Sullivan, which is the first book in what the publisher called “a sweeping dystopian romance trilogy of love and rebellion, set in a post-apocalyptic future.” The five other titles are set for a 2026 release with three to be published by Ballantine and two by Little Random.
Bush Hager said reading has long been her passion and that while she has read plenty in order to select titles for her book club, getting involved as a publisher “has upped my reading even more.” To help ensure that Thousand Voices x RHPG titles gain traction, Bush Hager also plans to be involved with the marketing efforts—starting, she said, with announcing the launch of the project on the Today Show, where she is a cohost, on Wednesday morning.
Though the Thousand Voices agreement was negotiated by Christy Fletcher at UTA, Bush Hager stressed that she is looking at manuscripts from a wide variety of agents. She also stressed that being chosen as a Thousand Voices x RHPG title doesn’t mean the book will be a Read with Jeanne selection. In fact, Bush Hager said, she is keeping the publishing venture and book club separate. But in over five years of running the club, which has produced 47 bestsellers, Bush Hager said she has developed a sense of the stories readers like best and hopes that will translate to the books she publishes.
