Regan LA Office to Close; Mantle Book Killed

-- Publishers Weekly, 1/17/2007

HarperCollins announced this afternoon that it will close the ReganMedia Los Angeles office, and while Michael Morrison, president and group publisher of Harper/Morrow, said he expects to publish most of the books acquired by ousted publisher Judith Regan, the company will not publish 7: The Mickey Mantle Novel. 7, by Peter Golenbock, was described as "an inventive memoir" and drew heavy media criticism for Golenbock's technique of telling Mantle's story in the first person and filling the book with undocumented, controversial events and quotes. After discussing the matter with Golenbock, Morrison said, "We both decided it was better if Peter didn't publish this book with us." 7's rights have reverted to Golenbock.

The Regan L.A. office, opened about one year ago, will be closed by March 1. Cal Morgan, ReganMedia editorial director, will return to HC's New York office, along with Cassie Jones, executive managing editor/senior editor; Gregg Sullivan, marketing director; and Richard Ljoenes, senior art director. Suzanne Wickham will remain in L.A. as West Coast publicity director. The Regan office had a total of 17 employees. Morrison said that the former Regan imprint staff relocating to New York will help publish out the winter and spring lists. Books on those lists, however, will not carry the Regan logo but will instead bear an HC logo. By the fall, the Regan titles will be dispersed to the appropriate HC imprints. Morrison said HC was still in the process of reviewing all the manuscripts but hoped to avoid canceling any projects.

Regan was fired from HC in December after allegedly making anti-Semitic remarks. Her lawyer, Bert Fields has threatened to sue HC and parent company News Corp. for wrongful termination, although no suit has yet been filed. A HC spokesperson said no settlement agreement with Regan has been reached.