Nov. 12 (UPI) — A team of U.S. employees at Hachette Book Group wrote an open letter to management to protest a new conservative book imprint created in wake of last week’s Donald Trump victory headed by a known far-right publisher, and called on Hachette to reconsider its choice.
The anonymous group criticized launching the book imprint, Basic Liberty, and the hiring of conservative book publishing outlet Regnery’s ex-president and publisher Thomas Spence
Spence is a visiting fellow at the ultra-conservative Heritage Foundation, which is a right-wing Washington think-tank that organized the controversial Project 2025 initiative poised to reshape the U.S. government and strip certain Americans of legal rights.
In addition, a U.S.-based editor at one of Hachette’s British divisions also resigned citing the launch.
“As employees of HBG, we stand together in firm disapprobation of the Heritage Foundation, Project 2025, and any conservative movement or thought that strips away sacred rights and the humanity of people,” read part of the letter posted to the xoxopublishingg Instagram account.
It assed that the crew “disavowed” HBG and Hachette UK CEO David Shelley’s “unsympathetic and insensitive remarks.”
The global publisher Hachette Book Group — that has a specialty in conservative book publishing — launched its new U.S. imprint in the wake of Trump’s election victory last Tuesday.
“The dignity, rights and freedoms of all people should be upheld by everyone, especially those in positions of power,” the Hachette employees wrote.
On Nov. 7, Shelley announced its Basic Books Group will add “Basic Liberty” into its portfolio, characterized as a “new conservative imprint that will publish serious works of cultural, social and political analysis by conservative writers of original thought,” he said.
He also announced Spence as executive editor of the Basic Liberty imprint.
“We condemn HBG’s decision to put profit before its own people, to let the promise of financial gain overtake morality and conscience, and to platform a person who contributes to the advancement of the Heritage Foundation’s vision for America,” the letter continued.
On Friday, in a statement on social media, Alex DiFrancesco — the U.S.-based editor who stepped down at Jessica Kingsley Publishers, a division of Hachette — wrote how the books its division publishes as “of great importance toward the project of making the world better, more understanding and more compassionate.”
“I have felt, in these two and a half years, that not only our division, but the wider company stood behind such work,” DiFrancesco wrote. “After the announcement about the formation of Basic Books’ Liberty imprint, I can no longer say I feel this way.”
However, the mission of Hachette Book Group, an HBG spokesperson told The Bookseller, is to “reach a broad spectrum of readers by making it easier for everyone to discover new worlds of ideas, learning, entertainment and opportunity. We publish books from all sides of the political debate.”
“Since 1950, Basic Books’ award-winning titles have helped shape public debate through the academic expertise of their authors, the serious approach to how subject matter is treated, and the rigor of its editorial process,” HBG said, adding that it “continues to build on HBG’s legacy of reaching readers of all backgrounds and beliefs.”
Its employees say they call on HBG “to recognize the responsibility it has as one of the world’s leading publishers,” which the group said is to act “with empathy and compassion for all people, urging those in charge to “reevaluate” the decision to move forward with creating Basic Liberty and hiring of Spence.