'Game-changing' publishing leader Rubin dies aged 81

The "game-changing" former leader of Doubleday, Transworld and Bantham Press Stephen Rubin died on Friday (13th October) in Manhattan aged 81.

His early years were spent as a freelance music writer and magazine editor before spending around 25 years heading up Doubleday, Bantam Doubleday Dell and Bantam Books.

A statement from Penguin Random House read: "Mr Rubin was with our companies for nearly a quarter century, joining Bantam Books as executive editor in 1984, and eventually becoming president and publisher at Doubleday for 15 years, before decamping to Macmillan in 2009.

"Along the way, he published some of the most widely read and commercially successful books in modern publishing history, championed prize-winning fiction and nonfiction authors, guided the careers of numerous publishing talents – and was the source and subject of countless anecdotes about the life heled and loved.

"Born and raised in the Bronx, Rubin initially parlayed his lifelong love of classical music and opera to freelance writing, and editing stints at UPI and the reborn Vanity Fair."

He founded a news syndicate, Writers Bloc, which created and brokered articles to newspapers and through his contact Stuart Applebaum, then chief publicist for Bantam Books, was introduced to Bantam’s publisher Jack Romanos for a story on the ’Jaws 2’ book tie-in.

Knopf dubbed Rubin as a "game-changing" publisher and said: "Impressed by the journalist’s enthusiasm and quick-study sensibility, Romanos, seconded by Alberto Vitale and publisher Linda Grey, offered him a Bantam senior editorial position, which was happily accepted.

"Thus began a storied career, in which Rubin rose from Bantam Adult Fiction and Nonfiction publisher, time at Doubleday, and a three-year chairman stint in London with our sister company Transworld UK, and head of Bantam Doubleday Dell International."

In 1990, Rubin returned to New York "to run a troubled Doubleday", Knopf said. "As president and publisher, he reduced editorial categories, and title and head counts. He oversaw the publication of The Firm by an unknown author named John Grisham, beginning an author-publisher relationship that is spanning more than 30 books and three decades. Rubinwent on to green light and mastermind Doubleday’s publication of Dan Brown’s The DaVinci Code, one of the fastest- and longest-selling novels ever published.

"Doubleday authors who flourished with the collaborations fostered by Rubin with their editors include Margaret Atwood, Ian McEwan, Jon Krakauer, Jonathan Lethem, ColsonWhitehead, Chuck Palahniuk, Jane Hamilto and Pat Conroy.

"Under Rubin’s leadership, Doubleday was financially successful, and one of the most talked-about imprints everywhere."

Doubleday’s publisher Bill Thomas said: “I had the privilege and pleasure of working with Steve for 13 years. It struck me that it made perfect sense he began his career a journalist covering opera, an art form he loved. He approached publishing like an impresario, bringing together all the players on-stage and off, cajoling, encouraging, and nudging to make sure that when the curtain rose the stars – the authors he published – shone brightly in the spotlight.

“Steve approached his job with brio and style, and a sense of joy. He had fun, and working for him was fun. And like a great opera singer, he was oversized, brash, and dramatic, sartorially resplendent, and given to big gestures. He was, in a word, ’grand’.”

In September 2009, Rubin left his position as executive v.p. and publisher at large, Random House, which he took on following a corporate reorganisation, to work at Macmillan, where he ran its Henry Holt division, and published Bill O’Reilly’s Killing series and Michael Wolf’s Donald Trump Fire and Fury, resulting in multi-million-copy successes. Most recently, Rubin has been a consulting publisher to Simon & Schuster.

Much of this personal history, and much more, is recounted in Rubin’s memoir, “Words and Music,” which he published in January, to much conversation and opining.
Grisham said: “Steve Rubin was a great publisher. He loved books, especially those on the bestseller lists, and he knew how to get them there. He was a writer’s dream – loyal, generous, and never shy with his opinions. He was seldom wrong, but never in doubt.”

Brown commented: “Steve’s infectious enthusiasm for my work was every author’s dream. A world class oenophile, Steve used to send me cases of lavish Italian wines – a secret plot, he joked, to saddle me with a refined palate so I could never afford to stop writing. I am eternally grateful for his belief, his encouragement, and, above all, his friendship.”

Rubin’s wife Cynthia, a music publicist, died in 2010. He is survived by nieces Sara Elan Rotter and Yael Rotter, and nephews David Rotter and Andrew Rotter.