The Wall Street Journalreports that Jonathan Karp will be launching a new imprint at Warner Books. Karp, 41, recently resigned as editor-in-chief of Random House. Karp will be vice president, publisher and editor-in-chief of Warner Twelve, which will publish 12 books a year.
The country's biggest book publishers have proved willing in recent years to back veteran editors in the launch of new imprints. This enables editors to spend less time on administrative tasks and more time focusing on authors. "These days you've got to be an entrepreneur," said Jamie Raab, publisher of Warner Books. "As an editor you've got to buy, you've got to edit, and you've got to publish. That's a fairly new development."
Ms. Raab said that Mr. Karp will have autonomy in his new post, but noted that all advertising and marketing spending will be done in the context of "the big picture." Mr. Karp wanted more autonomy at Random House and clashed with his bosses there over marketing and ad spending for his books. In an interview, he declined to compare the two situations. "I'll be buying primarily nonfiction, but I'm open to fiction as well," he said. "The past isn't a prologue."
