Hatchette CEO keeps quiet over shutting down imprint

If Michael Pietsch has any regrets about shuttering the Business Plus imprint at Hachette Book Group, he isn’t saying, even though three books signed up by editors he laid off July have become best-sellers during the past nine months.

“That’s not a serious question, and I have nothing more to say,” said Pietsch when asked about his decision to close down the imprint.

The biggest surprise was “Coined: The Rich Life of Money And How Its History Has Shaped Us” by Kabir Sehgal, which will debut at No. 17 on the extended New York Times list. Industry insiders get an early look at the list before it’s published March 29.

Two other books signed by Business Plus earlier also made that list: “How Google Works,” by Eric Schmidt and Jonathan Rosenberg, and “Zillow Talk: The New Rules of Real Estate,” by Spencer Rascoff and Stan Humphries.