Berkley and Penguin Young Readers to Launch New Imprint, Berkley XO
Berkley and Penguin Young Readers will join forces to launch a new imprint, Berkley Crossover, to be branded as Berkley XO. It was announced on July 9 by Jennifer Loja, President, Penguin Young Readers Group, and Christine Ball, Publisher, Berkley.
Berkley XO will be a boutique imprint dedicated to publishing titles with crossover appeal for both adult and young adult readers. The list will be highly curated, with a maximum of 10 titles per year. Each project will involve a custom team made up of members from both the Berkley adult and Penguin Young Readers divisions—including editorial, publicity, and marketing—assembled at the time of acquisition.
“Berkley XO is unique because it unites the strengths of two publishing powerhouses to create something wholly new,” says Loja. “This imprint doesn’t just aim to reach a crossover audience—it builds a publishing model around it.”
“As the lines between adult and young adult fiction continue to blur, Berkley XO will embrace the opportunity to publish a select list of titles aimed at readers of both,” says Ball. “This new hand-in-hand approach will serve our authors by reaching a wider range of readers who straddle the divide between adult and YA.”
Led by Jen Klonsky, Publisher, Putnam Books for Young Readers and Berkley Editor-in-Chief Claire Zion, editors at both divisions will consider submissions for publication on the Berkley XO list.