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| Arnaud Nourry | |
Arnaud Nourry, the former longtime head of Hachette Livre, has founded a publishing company, Les Nouveaux Éditeurs, which has entered into a first-look agreement for future editorial acquisitions with Simon & Schuster. Under the agreement, each company has the first opportunity to acquire projects for its market which satisfy certain parameters and for which the other company has acquired world rights. The agreement also provides for the two publishers to join forces in auctions, and to bid together for series, licenses and other multi-book acquisitions.
Noting its purchase of Dutch publisher VBK last month, S&S described the agreement with Les Nouveaux Éditeurs as "representative of its ambition to expand the scope of its international publishing efforts, in English, translated work, and foreign languages."
S&S president and CEO Jonathan Karp called Nourry "one of the most dynamic and respected leaders in both French and international publishing. We are full of joie de vivre as we join what promises to be a significant and exciting new publishing enterprise, and to be extending our reach into a major market in which reading and literary culture are valued to an extraordinary degree."
Nourry said, "Jonathan Karp and I go back a long way. When the opportunity arose to work together again, I was thrilled. Jonathan is an outstanding publisher who runs the powerhouse that Simon & Schuster has become with authority and skill. As a leader on the American market, he wanted to extend his reach internationally at a time when I was planning the launch of Les Nouveaux Éditeurs. Talk about planets being aligned! The fact that this partnership is based on friendship makes it all the more propitious."
Nourry left Hachette Livre in 2021 after 18 years as chairman and CEO. According to the Bookseller, Les Nouveaux Éditeurs is "an independent, free-standing and innovative" group of publishing houses for French authors, publishers and creatives. The company will give publishing talents a "substantial minority stake" in the publishing house and aim to offer "best in class" contracts. Les Nouveaux Éditeurs will also use "leading edge technologies," including AI, for production, marketing and distribution, from print runs to promotion and publicity.