PublishersWeekly.com By Sophia Stewart
A group of employees at Hachette Book Group have penned a letter to management condemning the announced launch of a new conservative imprint, Basic Liberty, and hiring of Thomas Spence, former president and publisher of Regnery, to helm it.
On November 7, two days after the presidential election, HBG and Hachette UK CEO David Shelley announced that the Basic Books Group would be adding to its portfolio the Basic Liberty imprint, described as “a new conservative imprint that will publish serious works of cultural, social, and political analysis by conservative writers of original thought.” He also announced that Spence—currently a visiting fellow at the conservative think tank the Heritage Foundation—had been hired to lead the imprint as executive editor.
Spence worked at Regnery for more than 11 years, and led the company for nearly four years after the retirement of longtime president and publisher Marji Ross in 2019. Earlier this year, following Skyhorse’s acquisition of Regnery in late 2023, he joined the Heritage Foundation as a senior advisor.
Among the books acquired by Regnery during Spence’s tenure are Unwoke: How to Defeat Cultural Marxism in America by Ted Cruz; Tearing Us Apart: How Abortion Harms Everything and Solves Nothing by Ryan T. Anderson and Alexandra DeSanctis; and Abigail Shrier’s controversial book Irreversible Damage: The Transgender Craze Seducing Our Daughters. He also acquired Senator Josh Hawley’s book, The Tyranny of Big Tech, after it was dropped by Simon & Schuster following the January 6 riot at the Capitol, which many saw Hawley as being partly responsible for inciting.
The letter from employees, posted to the Instagram account xoxopublishingg, states: “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. We disavow David Shelley’s unsympathetic and insensitive remarks,”—delivered, the letter notes, “shortly after many friends, colleagues, and loved ones were left reeling from election results”—”and maintain that the dignity, rights, and freedoms of all people should be upheld by everyone, especially those in positions of power.”
It continues: “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. We are calling on HBG to recognize the responsibility it has as one of the world’s leading publishers, to act with empathy and compassion for all people, and to reevaluate its decision to move forward with the creation of Basic Liberty and the hiring of Thomas Spence.”
Following the announcement, at least one Hachette employee—Alex DiFrancesco, an editor at the Hachette UK imprint Jessica Kingsley Publishers—has resigned…
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