Jonathan Karp

Jonathan Karp is an American book editor, publisher, and writer. Prior to being named publisher of Simon & Schuster in 2010, he was the founder of Twelve, an imprint at the Hachette Book Group, and the editor-in-chief of Random House. As of May 2020, he is the CEO of Simon & Schuster.[2]

Jonathan Karp
Born1963/1964 (age 56–57)[1]
Alma materBrown University
EmployerSimon & Schuster

Early life and education

Karp was born to a Jewish family[3] and raised in the Short Hills section of Millburn, New Jersey. His mother worked as a schoolteacher and his father served as chairman and chief executive officer at a bank.[4][5][6] Karp graduated from Brown University in 1986,[7] where he majored in American civilization and served as president and editor of the student publication, The Brown Daily Herald.[4][8][9][10] He wrote his master's thesis on Herman Wouk's novels.[11][12]

Career

Karp wrote for The Washington Post in the mid 1980s,[13][14][15] then worked as a reporter for The Providence Journal and the Miami Herald.[4] He then relocated to New York City to pursue his interests in books and theatre.[4]

Karp joined Random House in 1989 as an editorial assistant, and by 2000 he was serving as vice president and senior editor.[16][17] In July 2000, he was promoted to the role of publisher of '@Random', the company's e-book branch,[18][19] and eventually worked his way up to editor-in-chief of Random House.[1][20] He worked for Random House for sixteen years, with one interruption; in 2000, he left the publisher to head producer Scott Rudin's office in New York (Scott Rudin Productions) as vice president of development.[19] However, he returned to Bertelsmann several weeks later.[19][21][22]

Karp then served as publisher and editor-in-chief of Twelve, an imprint he established within the Hachette Book Group in 2005, which publishes one book per month.[23][24][25] Fifteen of Twelve's first thirty books appeared on The New York Times Best Seller list.[26]

In mid 2010, Karp left Hachette to become Simon & Schuster's publisher,[1][27] and was subsequently named president of the flagship division.[28][29] In May 2011, Karp made a cameo appearance on the finale of Gossip Girl's fourth season ("The Wrong Goodbye"), in which he negotiates a manuscript deal with one of the show's main characters.[30][31][32] He later appeared on the season five episodes "The Jewel of Denial" (October 10, 2011) and "Father and the Bride" (January 23, 2012).[33][34]

Theatre

Karp met composer Seth Weinstein during their two-year apprenticeship at the BMI Lehman Engel Musical Theatre Workshop, in Manhattan in 1996. The duo wrote The Kugelmass Affair, which is based on a short story by Woody Allen.[4]

In 2000, Karp co-directed Big Kiss: An Evening of Humiliating Audition Stories with Alford, who wrote Big Kiss: One Actor's Desperate Attempt to Claw His Way to the Top. The show featured Alford and other actors performing self-written monologues about their most embarrassing audition experiences.[35]

Karp and Weinstein's second musical, Heart Throb, premiered at the Producers Club in 2001.[4] The duo later collaborated on How to Save the World and Find True Love in 90 Minutes, with Karp writing the book and lyrics. The Off-Broadway musical comedy, which is about a United Nations tour guide who realizes his ability to read minds after getting hit in the head by a melon, was first presented as I Know What You're Thinking in September 2000 at the New York International Fringe Festival and later ran at the arts complex New World Stages.[8][19][36][37]

On 29 May 2020, he became the CEO of Simon & Schuster.[38]

See also

References
  1. Bosman, Julie (June 3, 2010). "Head of Boutique Publisher Joins Simon & Schuster". The New York Times. The New York Times Company. ISSN 0362-4331. OCLC 1645522. Retrieved December 27, 2016.
  2. https://www.nytimes.com/2020/05/28/books/simon-schuster-jonathan-karp-ceo.html
  3. Times of Israel: "The Good Old Days Of The Future Of Publishing" by Susan Reimer December 16, 2012
  4. Lee, Felicia R. (August 7, 2004). "Critic's Notebook; Double Life as Editor and Lyricist". The New York Times. Retrieved January 25, 2017.
  5. "Donald M. Karp, Secretary". Thirteen.org. Tisch WNET: THIRTEEN Media. Retrieved 7 March 2017.
  6. Nadler, Paul (September 1, 1998). "Weekly Advisor: Has New Jersey Bank Got Its Fair Share in Community's Comeback?". American Banker. SourceMedia. Archived from the original on March 8, 2017. Retrieved March 7, 2017 – via HighBeam Research.
  7. Brown University:
  8. Schwartzapfel, Beth (January–February 2007). "His True Loves". Brown Alumni Magazine. Retrieved January 25, 2017.
  9. Eugenides, Jeffrey; Moody, Rick; Lowry, Lois; Robinson, Marilynne; Cheever, Susan (May 20, 2014). The Brown Reader: 50 Writers Remember College Hill. Simon & Schuster. p. 107. Retrieved January 18, 2017.
  10. "The Brown Daily Herald" (PDF). Providence, Rhode Island: Brown University. January 23, 1985. Retrieved February 8, 2017.
  11. Barnes, Brooks (November 12, 2012). "At 97, He Has a Book (or 2) Left". The New York Times. Retrieved January 25, 2017.
  12. Boog, Jason (April 9, 2012). "96-Year-Old Novelist Herman Wouk Lands Book Deal". Adweek. Prometheus Global Media. ISSN 0199-2864. Retrieved January 25, 2017.
  13. "How Real Is 'Rambo'?". The Washington Post. July 8, 1985.
  14. "Brown's Four Famous Freshmen". The Washington Post. August 29, 1985.
  15. "Reputed Md. Gang Member Gets 32 Years in Murder". The Washington Post. August 30, 1986.
  16. Reid, Calvin (August 7, 2000). "PW: Random House, Modern Library to Offer E-books". Publishers Weekly. 246 (32). ISSN 0000-0019. Retrieved January 22, 2017.
  17. Bronson, Po; Dooling, Richard; Garcia, Eric; Hond, Paul; Krist, Gary (February 20, 2001). Men Seeking Women: Love and Sex On-line. Random House Publishing Group. Retrieved January 22, 2017.
  18. Bing, Jonathan (September 18, 2000). "Booked Solid: Three giants expand their e-publishing horizons". Variety. Penske Media Corporation. ISSN 0042-2738. OCLC 810134503. Retrieved January 22, 2017.
  19. Goldman, Andrew (February 12, 2001). "Hollywood's Second-Oldest Story: Jon Karp Signs with Rudin, Flees". New York Observer. Observer Media. ISSN 1052-2948. Retrieved December 28, 2016.
  20. Bosman, Julie (September 15, 2010). "Boutique Publisher Names New Chief". The New York Times. Retrieved December 27, 2016.
  21. Kolker, Robert. "Waiting for Godoff". New York: 3. Retrieved January 22, 2017.
  22. Snyder, Gabriel (March 19, 2001). "Another Dot-Com Dream Punctured: Random House Scaling Back E-Books". New York Observer. Retrieved January 22, 2017.
  23. Donadio, Rachel (February 3, 2008). "Waiting for It". The New York Times. Retrieved January 22, 2017.
  24. Fleming Jr., Mike (June 2, 2010). "Simon & Schuster Shakeup: David Rosenthal Out and Jonathan Karp In". Deadline Hollywood. Penske Media Corporation. Retrieved December 28, 2016.
  25. Kellogg, Carolyn (June 3, 2010). "Simon & Schuster grabs innovative publisher Jonathan Karp". Los Angeles Times. tronc. ISSN 0458-3035. OCLC 3638237. Retrieved December 27, 2016.
  26. Ferrari-Adler, Jofie (November–December 2009). "Agents & Editors: A Q&A with Editor Jonathan Karp". Poets & Writers. Retrieved January 24, 2017.
  27. Boog, Jason (June 3, 2010). "Jonathan Karp to Replace David Rosenthal as Simon & Schuster Publisher". Adweek. Retrieved December 27, 2016.
  28. Dilworth, Dianna (February 22, 2016). "Simon & Schuster to Publish Book on Tiger Woods". Adweek. Beringer Capital. ISSN 0199-2864. Retrieved January 24, 2017.
  29. Kinane, Ruth (January 4, 2017). "Carrie Fisher's books rush to reprint after sales were 'wiped out by demand'". Entertainment Weekly. Time Inc. ISSN 1049-0434. OCLC 21114137. Retrieved January 24, 2017.
  30. Yin, Maryann (May 17, 2011). "Jonathan Karp Cameo on 'Gossip Girl' TV Show". Adweek. Retrieved December 27, 2016.
  31. Duray, Dan (May 17, 2011). "Jonathan Karp on His Gossip Girl Cameo". New York Observer. Retrieved January 31, 2017.
  32. Pressler, Jessica; Rovzar, Chris (May 17, 2011). "Gossip Girl Recap: Maybe We're Growing Up After All". Vulture.com. Retrieved January 31, 2017.
  33. Pressler, Jessica (January 24, 2012). "Gossip Girl Recap: There's a Fine Line Between Surveillance and Stalking". Vulture.com. Retrieved January 31, 2017.
  34. Greenhouse, Emily (December 21, 2012). "Farewell, "Gossip Girl"". The New Yorker. Condé Nast. ISSN 0028-792X. OCLC 320541675. Retrieved January 31, 2017.
  35. Tierney, John (April 12, 2000). "The Big City; Now Staging a Revival: Humiliation". The New York Times. Retrieved January 22, 2017.
  36. "Jonathan Karp: From the Page to the Stage". Broadway.com. Key Brand Entertainment. November 14, 2006. Retrieved December 28, 2016.
  37. Gates, Anita (November 16, 2006). "Theater Review: 'How to Save the World and Find True Love in 90 Minutes'; Listening for Love". The New York Times. Retrieved January 25, 2017.
  38. "Simon & Schuster names Jonathan Karp as new CEO". The Hindu. 29 May 2020.

Further reading
External audio
Writer Laura Hillenbrand, Jonathan Karp of Random House: Fresh Air, July 29, 2003, NPR
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