Led By CEO And Founder Meena Harris, Phenomenal Media Books Will Identify and Publish Underrepresented Voices Across Fiction, Nonfiction, and Children’s Books with Grand Central Publishing and Little, Brown Books for Young Readers
LOS ANGELES, JANUARY 24, 2023—Phenomenal Media, a values-driven, 360-degree media company that centers women and historically excluded communities, announced today the launch of a publishing partnership, Phenomenal Media Books. Together with two Hachette Book Group divisions, Phenomenal Media Books will develop and acquire works from underrepresented voices across multiple genres, fiction and nonfiction, and for audiences of all ages, from children to adults. The books will be published in collaboration with imprints of Grand Central Publishing and Little, Brown Books for Young Readers.
Under the Phenomenal Media umbrella, this new venture will reflect Phenomenal’s core mission to champion women and historically excluded communities in the publishing world. The flexibility of this partnership to publish across multiple Hachette Book Group imprints will grant Phenomenal the ability to find the best creative path to nurture authors and their works.
In addition, this partnership will enable Phenomenal to leverage its extensive creative relationships cultivated through its rapidly growing content & entertainment business, the brand’s well-established audience, and the company’s proven marketing prowess to support authors across all stages of the publishing life cycle. Bolstered by Hachette Book Group’s legacy and reputation for excellence, Phenomenal, Grand Central Publishing, and Little, Brown Books for Young Readers will create a publishing partnership with a distinct editorial voice, powerful brand affinity, and innovative tactics to bring books to market.
“We are excited to be able to expand on our mission to support underrepresented voices and singular storytelling through this unprecedented publishing partnership with Hachette,” said founder and CEO Meena Harris. “We were thrilled to see the positive reaction to our launch of Phenomenal Book Club — clearly people are looking for more stories from authors who, too often, do not receive the spotlight from the publishing industry. Phenomenal Media Books will provide new avenues for discovering those authors and positioning their works for success.”
Acquisitions and editorial decisions will be made by a team of Phenomenal staff, including Founder & CEO Meena Harris and Head of Content & Entertainment Juliet Liu, alongside LBYR VP & Editorial Director Farrin Jacobs (for young adult/children’s projects) and GCP VP and Digital Paperback Publisher Beth deGuzman (for adult projects).
“As the home of Meena Harris’s children’s books for several years, we have seen up close her business and marketing acumen, as well as her dedication to creating books that all kinds of children can see themselves in,” said Megan Tingley, President & Publisher, Little, Brown Books for Young Readers. “We’re excited by the prospect of growing that relationship and together championing more stories from underrepresented voices.”
GCP’s deGuzman said of the partnership, “We are passionate supporters of Phenomenal Media’s mission at GCP and are thrilled to collaborate with their team across our imprints here, including Grand Central and Legacy Lit, to publish and market creative, original, and important books for adult audiences by underrepresented authors.”
About Phenomenal Media
Founded by lawyer and best-selling author Meena Harris, Phenomenal Media is a values-driven, 360-degree media company that centers women and historically excluded communities. By lifting up the stories, experiences, and talents of underrepresented groups, Phenomenal is helping to shift culture and build community. Phenomenal has already seen enormous growth and success over the past five years — receiving support from thousands of celebrities, athletes, and community leaders, and launching partnerships with iconic entertainment, fashion, and consumer-goods companies. Through its innovative strategies as a content and entertainment company, consumer brand, and creative agency, Phenomenal is poised to take on the opportunity of an ever-evolving media landscape with purpose and authenticity.
About Meena Harris
Meena Harris is a powerful and dynamic creative poised to shake up the media landscape. As founder of the groundbreaking and Tony Award®-winning company Phenomenal, as well as an author, and lawyer, Harris is a respected entrepreneur and an influential voice for gender and racial equity.
A 360-degree media company, Phenomenal Media aims to elevate the stories and experiences of women and underrepresented communities. Through content creation, brand partnerships, book clubs and more, Harris and Phenomenal are leading a cultural shift to a more inclusive and equitable media landscape and world. They recently co-produced the critically acclaimed Broadway musical A Strange Loop, which won the 2022 Tony Award for Best Musical, and Death of a Salesman, the Olivier Award-winning revival of the American classic.
Harris has a number of exciting projects coming up, including the publication of her fourth children’s book A Is For Ambitious on March 14, 2023, the sequel to Ambitious Girl, for which Harris became a #1 New York Times-bestselling author.
Harris’s legal expertise is in the areas of consumer protection, data privacy, and cybersecurity. She is a graduate of Stanford University and Harvard Law School, and currently resides in San Francisco with her partner and two daughters.
About Little, Brown Books for Young Readers
Little, Brown Books for Young Readers is a division of Hachette Book Group, a leading trade publisher based in New York and a division of Hachette Livre, the third-largest trade and educational publisher in the world. HBG is made up of eight publishing groups: Little, Brown and Company, Little, Brown Books for Young Readers, Grand Central Publishing, Perseus Books, Orbit, Hachette Nashville, Hachette Audio, and Workman Publishing. For more information, visit hbgusa.com.
About Grand Central Publishing
Grand Central Publishing, a division of Hachette Book Group, reaches a diverse audience through hardcover, trade paperback and mass market books and e-books that cater to every kind of reader. Our imprints are GCP Balance, Forever, Grand Central, Legacy Lit, and Twelve.
About Hachette Book Group
Hachette Book Group (HBG) is a leading U.S. general-interest book publisher made up of dozens of esteemed imprints within the publishing groups Basic Books Group, Grand Central Publishing, Hachette Audio, Hachette Books, Hachette Nashville, Little, Brown and Company, Little, Brown Books for Young Readers, Orbit, Running Press Books Group, and Workman Publishing. We also provide custom distribution, fulfillment, and sales services to other publishing companies. Our books and authors have received the Pulitzer Prize, National Book Award, Caldecott Medal, Newbery Medal, Booker Prize, Nobel Peace Prize, and other major honors. We are committed to diversity in our company and our publishing programs, and to fostering a culture of inclusion for all our employees and authors. We are proud to be part of Hachette Livre, the world’s third-largest trade and educational publisher.
PR CONTACTS
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