Book life

Sign of the times?

Book Publisher Suspends New Acquisitions

By MOTOKO RICH

Published: November 24, 2008
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, the publisher of authors including Philip Roth, Jonathan Safran Foer, Günter Grass and J. R. R. Tolkien, has temporarily suspended acquisitions of new manuscripts, a company spokesman said Monday.

The company, which was formed by Houghton Mifflin Riverdeep’s $4 billion takeover of Harcourt in July 2007, has undergone staff layoffs and other turbulence during its consolidation period. But just a month ago, the company held a party in its downtown Manhattan offices to celebrate the completion of the union.

Now the company is not accepting submissions.

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