Houghton Mifflin Stops Accepting Manuscripts

Houghton Mifflin Harcourt puts freeze on new books amid slowdown in sales

By Rob Quinn, Newser Staff

Posted Nov 25, 2008 3:21 AM CST

(Newser) – Houghton Mifflin Harcourt has asked its editors to stop buying books, Publishers Weekly reports. The publisher already has plenty of works in the pipeline and the freeze is only temporary, according to executives, who offered no indication when it might be lifted. Still, it unsettled literary agents, who say they've never heard of such a dramatic move before.

"I’ve been in the business a long time and at a couple of houses I worked at, when things were bad, we were asked to cut back,” said one. "But I've never heard of anything so public." Industry experts say the move reflects the slowdown in book sales, but wonder how long Houghton can keep it up without its business model collapsing.

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Houghton Mifflin Harcourt has told its editors to stop buying new manuscripts, unsettling many in the publishing world. (Shutter Stock)

Shoppers browse in a Borders bookstore in Chicago last week. US book sales fell 2% in September and were down by 1.5% for the year. (AP Photo/Charles Rex Arbogast)

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In this case, it’s a symbol of doing things smarter; it’s not an indicator of the end of literature. We have turned off the spigot, but we have a very robust pipeline.
- Josef Blumenfeld, a vice president for Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

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Houghton Mifflin Stops Accepting Manuscripts