Threshold Editions is an imprint of Simon & Schuster—the publishing division of ViacomCBS—specializing in conservativenon-fiction. The publisher is Louise Burke, Mary Matalin was its founding editor-in-chief. Threshold Editions was founded as a Conservative imprint in 2006 with Mary Matalin as editor-in-chief. The imprint was launched after Penguin Books launched Sentinel and Random House launched Crown Forum. Within four years of launching and due to Matalin's network, the imprint had already counted Glenn Beck, Vice President Dick Cheney, and Karl Rove among its authors and was producing bestselling books. The publisher of Threshold Editions, Louise Burke, stated in an interview that Threshold "best understands the conservative book-buying audience--a key factor needed to keep the hits coming." Matalin and Burke were introduced in 2005 and Burke said, "We were kindred spirits and we took it from there." Of the launch Burke said, "This is an area where it really helps to be a believer. I don't feel you can be successful in this particular genre if you are opposed to the message." Glenn Beck's book, An Inconvenient Book, reached No.1 on the New York Times Bestseller in 2007. Karl Rove sold his memoirs, Courage and Consequence: My Life as a Conservative in the Fight, to Threshold in 2007 after an auction with nine bidders, including another one of Simon & Schuster's imprints, Free Press. Rove, who received a seven-figure deal, stated that he chose the imprint as he was a longtime friend of Mary Matalin. While sales of hardcovers were down for Simon & Schuster in 2009 and early 2010, Threshold Editions had the biggest hits for the company. By 2014, Threshold was not only publishing memoirs and political commentary, but also young adult and fiction novels such as Rush Limbaugh's Rush Revere and the Brave Pilgrims. In 2015, Threshold signed a book deal with Donald Trump, for a book originally titled Crippled America: How to Make America Great Again. The title was later changed to Great Again: How to Fix Crippled America. The book debuted at #5 on Publisher's Weekly Frontlist Hardcover Nonfiction list. In late 2016, Threshold signed a controversial deal with Milo Yiannopoulos with a purported advance of for his book Dangerous. The Hollywood Reporter broke the news and social media quickly responded. The Chicago Review of Books announced that they would not be reviewing Simon & Schuster's books in 2017 and others called for a boycott. The book is not scheduled to release until later in 2017, but within 24 hours of the book being announced it had reached number one on the Amazon best-seller list. Simon & Schuster posted a statement on social media on December 30, that stated, "We do not and never have condoned discrimination or hate speech in any form. At Simon & Schuster we have always published books by a wide range of authors with greatly varying, and frequently controversial opinions, and appealing to many different audiences of readers. While we are cognizant that many may disagree vehemently with the books we publish we note that the opinions expressed therein belong to our authors, and we do not reflect either a corporate viewpoint or the views of our employees." On January 12, 2017, 160 Simon & Schuster children's book authors and illustrators published a letter to publisher Carolyn Reidy and the leadership at Simon & Schuster about Threshold's decision. The letter first praised Simon & Schuster for which they described as publishing "the strongest, most diverse list it can acquire, for the betterment of literature and children everywhere." It then went on to criticize the Threshold Editions imprint and its decision to publish Yiannopoulos's book which would associated Simon & Schuster as a whole with Threshold's decision to "legitimize this reprehensible belief system..."
