• by Ray Schultz , Columnist, October 14, 2024

Here’s a way of driving new revenue that you may not have thought of yet. 

Hearst Magazines is partnering with Sourcebooks, an independent publisher, to launch Cosmo Reads, a book imprint built on the Cosmopolitan media brand for young women. The goal is to publish four to six titles per year, starting next summer. 

These are not going to be "Best of Cosmo"-type books – the Cosmopolitan audience will be offered romantic and pop fiction.

“This exciting venture will deliver irresistible stories that resonate with the enthusiastic readers in our audiences worldwide,” says Jacqueline Deval, vice president Hearst Books & Hearst Specials.

“This is such a huge opportunity,” adds Dominique Raccah, publisher and CEO of Sourcebooks, who with Deval inked the deal. “Cosmopolitan uniquely reaches an insatiable audience that loves books, creating trends and big conversations!”

The arrangement unites Sourcebook, a publisher of such best-selling authors as Freida McFadden, Ana Huang, and Scarlett St. Clair, and Cosmopolitan, which has 21 editions worldwide and a U.S. audience of more than 50 million. 

Sourcebooks claims to be the largest romance publisher and fifth largest publisher of adult fiction in the U.S. Hearst Books publishes nonfiction lifestyle titles for adults and children, through its Hearst Home and Hearst Home Kids imprints.

The editorial process will be led by Sourcebooks editor Kate Roddy and executive editor Deb Werksman. In addition, it will involve Willa Bennett, editor in chief of Cosmopolitan and Tamara Fuentes, editor.

“This is a dream partnership,” Raccah says.