Ravi Mirchandani had been the Publishing Director of Heinemann, an imprint of the UK side of the publishing juggernaut, since 1999, and his authors included Rachel Seiffert, Michel Houellebecq, to name but a few. But as Publishing News discovered, his exit - effective the beginning of September - wasn't exactly his own idea. "One's face fits, then companies change and one’s face doesn't fit," he said, sounding philosophical." I'm not delighted and it wasn't my decision, but there's a rationale to it...When more than one person leaves at a time you can reorganise things the way you want to."

Still, Mirchandani stressed that he wasn't upset about the decision and didn't blame anyone, saying that he's known Century Heinemann Arrow publisher Susan Sandon since their mid-twenties and likes her. "I'm not bitter - companies need to change to reflect the change in the market. Books are being published now that in no way could I be the publisher of. But running a business is about deciding where you put your priorities, and clearly a decision has been made that their priorities lie elsewhere."