S&S boss Karp bullish on international expansion as firm looks to AI in audio form

Simon & Schuster US president and chief executive Jonathan Karp has discussed plans for the publisher’s long-term growth, nodding towards a hiring spree in the UK and potential acquisitions, as well as plans to produce more titles and experiment with AI narration.

Speaking in a Q&A session at yesterday’s (12th March) London Book Fair, Karp said S&S was going to be “much more expansive” after its acquisition by private equity firm KKR. He said he wanted to come to the fair “to underscore that Simon & Schuster is committed to international growth”, adding: “You can expect that Simon & Schuster UK is going to be hiring editors and other staff to do a broader range of books, to be a leader in all categories that it wants to be. We are committed to growth in Canada, Australia, India, all of our English-language territories, and also to have more of an international perspective in terms of the works we acquire and publish.”

Karp said the UK arm had recently hired more staff with science-fiction and fantasy specialisms, a move that was “already starting to pay off” with the recent acquisition of A F Steadman’s first adult novel, TimeLess, scheduled to publish in the UK in the autumn of 2026.

When questioned if the publisher’s growth would be more focused on acquisition or organic growth, Karp said S&S would follow “both tracks”. He told attendees: “Obviously if there are opportunities for acquisitions, we are certainly going to look at that. If it fits our company and our vision of where we want to go in the future, then we will be very serious about that”, joking that in recent months he had been reading “more [sale proposal] decks than manuscripts”. But he stressed: “We really are investing in ourselves.”

Karp noted that before the buyout, S&S always had to turn over its profits to the parent company. “One of the great things that KKR has done is allow us to invest back in ourselves, and that is a galvanising feeling and opportunity for us.

“We have hired some really terrific editors recently, and we are going to hire people in publicity and marketing and production and sales too, to do more titles. It’s not going to be a dramatically large increase in titles, it’s going to be gradual, and we are not going to rush books into the marketplace. We’re going to be careful about it. But I do think that exemplifies the commitment we have to investing in our growth that way.” 

Karp applauded the UK’s Publishers Association and the Association of American Publishers for their recent statements about AI and its potential infringement upon authors’ copyright, emphasising S&S “stands with them” and that the publisher “is proceeding with great caution” around AI. “We want to respect the authors’ rights in every way and we are viewing AI mostly as a tool. We’re using it in our marketing and our publicity to help expedite copywriting and generally to improve efficiency,” he said.

“The one area [of AI] we are looking at that could have some impact on authors—but again, doing it very cautiously—is in the audio arena, where we are going to experiment in languages where authors of old books might not otherwise ever be published. So, with old authors, old books, some experimentation with AI narration in territories where their works would never otherwise have a chance because of the cost of [audio production]. That would be only in accordance with our contracts and with respect for the authors. But we felt that might make sense.”