“Stuff You Should Read: An iHeartBook” becomes first-ever imprint deal to establish a line of podcast-based books between a major book publisher and leading podcast network
New York – February 20, 2020 – Today Bob Miller, President of Flatiron Books, announced a new imprint, Stuff You Should Read: An iHeartBook, in partnership with iHeartMedia’s iHeartPodcast Network. The imprint deal will start with four books based on iHeartRadio’s popular slate of curiosity podcasts, with an adult and young reader edition for each. The first book is set to hit shelves September 29, 2020.
The imprint will make its debut with STUFF YOU SHOULD KNOW: An Incomplete Compendium of Mostly Interesting Things, by Josh Clark and Chuck Bryant, hosts of the iHeartPodcast Network’s award-winning and hugely successful podcast “Stuff You Should Know” (SYSK), one of the first podcasts to reach one billion downloads. With this book, Josh and Chuck have taken their near-boundless curiosity from earbuds to the printed page to answer all the questions readers didn’t know they wanted to ask, from the origin of Murphy beds, to the history of facial hair, to the psychology of being lost.
“Podcasting is exploding right now, with some of the best and brightest minds launching shows in this medium,” said Conal Byrne, President of the iHeartPodcast Network. “We wanted to take a lot of that creativity and extend it into another amazing medium, serving it up in a whole new way and potentially to a whole new audience – readers. We found the perfect partner in Flatiron to launch our first four titles, with more to come.”
“We are extraordinarily excited to be working on a book with Flatiron,” said Clark. “It’s been a long time coming since we first wanted to create a SYSK book – since basically the beginning of the podcast 12 years ago – so this is a bit of a dream come true for us.”
Bryant continued, “Our listeners have been clamoring for a book as well, but the time never seemed right until now. With so much experience under our belts and a wealth of information we know people crave, we’re finally ready to dive into this book project the right way with Flatiron. We can’t wait to finally see the finished book in our hands and the hands of our listeners everywhere.”
The imprint will be headed by Sarah Murphy, Executive Editor at Flatiron, and willpublish a minimum of one book per year. To start, it will feature titles based on other popular long-running iHeartPodcast Network curiosity shows including “Stuff You Missed in History Class,” “Stuff They Don't Want You to Know,” and “Stuff Mom Never Told You.” Additionally, Imprint, a part of Macmillan Children’s Publishing Group, will publish young reader editions of the books.
“STUFF YOU SHOULD KNOW is as addictive as Cheese Doodles, full of the kind of fascinating details that book-lovers will love,” said Miller. “Who doesn't want to know how water treatment plants work? Or the history of the donut? We're thrilled to be partnering with the SYSK team and iHeartRadio to bring this delightful information to bookstores this fall."
Pre-order STUFF YOU SHOULD KNOW: An Incomplete Compendium of Mostly Interesting Things, by Josh Clark and Chuck Bryant, online now wherever books are sold.
About Macmillan
Macmillan Publishers is a global trade book publishing company with prominent imprints around the world. Macmillan publishes a broad range of award-winning books for children and adults in all categories and formats.
U.S. publishers include Celadon Books, Farrar, Straus and Giroux, Flatiron Books, Henry Holt & Company, Macmillan Audio, Macmillan Children’s Publishing Group, St. Martin's Publishing Group and Tor Books. In the UK, Australia, India, and South Africa, Macmillan publishes under the Pan Macmillan name. The German company, Holtzbrinck Deutsche Buchverlage, includes among its imprints S. Fischer, Kiepenheuer & Witsch, Rowohlt, and Droemer Knaur.
Macmillan Publishers is a division of the Holtzbrinck Publishing Group, a large family-owned media company headquartered in Stuttgart, Germany.
