Staff are protesting against a new US imprint of global publisher Hachette Book Group (HBG) specialising in conservative books, launched in the wake of Donald Trump’s election win.
A letter from an anonymous group of HBG employees has been published on social media, criticising the launch of Basic Liberty. It also expresses concern at the hiring of executive editor Thomas Spence. Spence is the former president of conservative publisher Regnery and a visiting fellow at the Heritage Foundation, the rightwing thinktank that coordinated the Project 2025 initiative, which sets out plans to reshape the US government and strip minorities of legal protections.
Announced two days after the presidential election, Basic Liberty is one of two new branches of Hachette US’s Basic Books, alongside Basic Venture, which will focus on business and economics. Basic Liberty is “dedicated to publishing serious works of cultural, social, and political analysis by conservative writers” with a focus “on topics of enduring interest rather than transitory political concerns”, according to HBG’s website.
After the announcement, the anonymous letter was posted to the Instagram account xoxopublishinggg, stating employees’ “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 condemn HBG’s decision to put profit before its own people,” the letter goes on to say. “We are calling on HBG to recognise the responsibility it has as one of the world’s leading publishers, to act with empathy and compassion for all people, and to re-evaluate its decision to move forward with the creation of Basic Liberty and the hiring of Thomas Spence.”
Those behind the letter have not been named, and Instagram is the only place it has been published. It has not been sent directly to anyone at HBG, and the Guardian has been unable to confirm the identities of the letter’s authors. However, HBG has confirmed that Alex DiFrancesco, a US-based editor at Jessica Kingsley Publishers (JKP), which is part of Hachette UK, has resigned over the same issue.
JKP’s focus is on underrepresented voices, publishing books on subjects including neurodiversity, mental health and gender diversity. In a statement posted on X, DiFrancesco described the books JKP publishes as being “of great importance towards 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”, they added. “After the announcement about the formation of Basic Books’ Liberty imprint, I can no longer say I feel this way.”
DiFrancesco, who is transgender, said that “the placement of Thomas Spence in a prominent role in the company feels like a direct threat not only to my work and livelihood, but to my person, and to many other minority workers within the company … I can only hope that others will make choices like the one I am currently making instead of rolling over to the forces that would destroy our nation, our neighbours, and ourselves.”
Approached for comment, a representative from HBG said “Hachette Book Group’s mission 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 … Basic Books continues to build on HBG’s legacy of reaching readers of all backgrounds and beliefs.”
This is not the first time HBG employees have taken issue with the company. In 2020, Hachette US dropped plans to publish Woody Allen’s memoir Apropos of Nothing after staff at the New York office staged a walkout, because of the allegations of sexual abuse made against the film-maker. Allen’s memoir was instead published by independent publisher Skyhorse books, which is now the parent company of Regnery.
