Bestselling novelist Emily Giffin will publish her next two books with Random House’s Ballantine Books imprint. Most recently, she had published Where We Belong with St. Martin’s Press.

Park Literary Group agent Theresa Park negotiated the deal for North American rights with Ballantine Bantam Dell editor-in-chief Jennifer Hershey. The first book is scheduled for a 2014 release and Hershey will edit.

According to the release, Griffin has sold more than seven million copies of her six novels in North America. Those books include: Something Borrowed, Something Blue, Baby Proof, and Heart of the Matter.

Author Jodi Picoult has landed a 3-book deal with Random House, Inc.’s Ballantine Books imprint. The not-yet-titled first novel will be published in 2014.

Random House Publishing Group president Gina Centrello teamed up with Ballantine Bantam Dell publisher Libby McGuire to negotiate the deal with Laura Gross Literary Agency principal Laura Gross. Ballantine Bantam Dell editor-in-chief Jennifer Hershey will edit the books.

McGuire had this statement in the release: “Jodi’s ability to bring readers together and start conversations about her storytelling is very special. Even with her tremendous success, we believe her growth potential is enormous, and we look forward to bringing her forthcoming fiction to an even larger readership.”

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Bestselling novelist Elizabeth Kostova (pictured, via) has inked a new publishing deal with Random House Publishing Group’s Ballantine Bantam Dell unit for her next novel. Publication is scheduled for 2013.

Little, Brown and Company had published Kostova’s previous two novels, The Historian and The Swan Thieves. Agent Amy Williams of McCormick & Williams negotiated the deal for North American hardcover, paperback, audio, and e-book publication rights.  Ballantine Bantam Dell editor-in-chief Jennifer Hershey will edit the novel.

Here’s more about the book: “The new novel will be set in the U.S. and Eastern Europe, and like The Historian will move between past and present, and combine elements of suspense, myth and folklore.”

Starting in 2012, Debbie Macomber (pictured) will publish six novels under Random House’s Ballantine Bantam Dell imprint.

Ballantine Bantam Dell publisher Libby McGuire and editor-in-chief Jennifer Hershey acquired hardcover, paperback, audio, and e-book publication rights. Theresa Park from the Park Literary Group handled the negotiations. Hershey and senior editor Shauna Summers will share the editing work load on the six novels.

Macomber has authored more than 150 novels. She suffers from dyslexia and only carries a high school education. Her determination to be a writer eventually lead to a deal with Silhouette Books which has since spawned a career selling 130 million books worldwide.

Macomber commented: “I am delighted and grateful to find a home with the energetic, inspired, and extremely impressive team at Ballantine Bantam Dell. I’m looking forward to a new stage in my 28-year publishing career, full of fresh ideas and exciting opportunities to bring my stories to the widest possible audience, and to deepen my long-term relationships with my loyal readers.”

As the adaptation Charlie St. Cloud debuted this weekend (starring Zac Efron), Ballantine Bantam Dell acquired a sequel to the bestselling novel by Ben Sherwood.

Editor-in-chief Jennifer Hershey bought the book, a follow-up to The Death and Life Of Charlie St. Cloud. William Morris Endeavor agent Jennifer Rudolph Walsh negotiated the deal with Ballantine Bantam Dell EIC Jennifer Hershey.

The adaptation earned $12.1 million at the box office this weekend, coming in sixth place among the major releases. Sherwood had this statement: “I’m extremely excited about the opportunity to dive back into Charlie St. Cloud’s world and to take the characters in new directions and I very privileged to work with Jennifer Hershey and the entire Ballantine Bantam Dell team.”

Today Random House Publishing Group announced that they will combine the Bantam, Dell, and Ballantine imprints into a single Ballantine Bantam Dell unit. Ballantine Books publisher Libby McGuire will serve as publisher at the new combined imprint, and Bantam Dell publisher Nita Taublib will depart.

The new unit will incorporate many imprints: Ballantine, Bantam, Del Rey/Spectra, Delacorte, Dell, ESPN Books, One World, Presidio, and Villard. The EIC of the new imprint will be Jennifer Hershey and Scott Shannon will serve as Ballantine Bantam Dell Mass Market publisher.

Here’s more from the internal memo: “The newly formed Ballantine Bantam Dell will continue to publish hardcovers and paperbacks in a wide range of fiction and nonfiction subjects and genres and be a commercial powerhouse in our industry.”

Follow this link to read more about Taublib’s departure. A memo on the promotions and the new unit follows after the jump.

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National Book Award winner Colum McCann has sold two new novels to Random House, including a story about a murder inspired by a famous poem.

Random House editor Jennifer Hershey acquired the books, and the deal was negotiated by Sarah Chalfant of from the Wylie Agency. Here’s more from the release: “The first novel, tentatively titled THIRTEEN WAYS OF LOOKING, explores a murder from multiple points of view, and is in part inspired by the Wallace Stevens‘ poem, “Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Blackbird.”

Earlier this year, documentary director, we interviewed Charlie McCarthy from Icebox Films–who is working on a documentary about McCann. In addition, we interviewed McCann at the National Book Awards.

University of Nebraska Lincoln professor Rhonda Garelick has sold a book about Coco Chanel, modern fashion, and European politics to Random House–a book entitled Antigone in Vogue.

Random House editorial director Jennifer Hershey bought North American rights. The deal was negotiated by Scott Moyers from the The Wylie Agency. The author is a critic of “performance, literature, fashion, and cultural politics.” Most recently, Garelick published Electric Salome: Loie Fuller’s Performance of Modernism with Princeton University Press.

Here’s more about the book: “capturing not only the dramatic story of Chanel’s life and loves but her enormous impact on 20th century culture, as well as the cultural and political forces that shaped her.”

It’s been a very strange week for the world’s largest publishing company. First we had Wednesday’s surprise announcement that Crown svp and publisher Steve Ross would be moving to Collins, with Tina Constable stepping in to take his place. Now comes last night’s announcement that Daniel Menaker was jumping ship from Random House‘s eponymous imprint, though it remains to be seen if the party line that the decision was “absolutely mutual” will hold up under scrutiny.

Maybe it’s because the current edition of Publishing Revolving Door takes me on a time warp all the way back to 2003 – ancient history for some, but important history nonetheless. Menaker, after 26 years at the New Yorker, first joined Random House in 1995 and continued uninterrupted there save for a sixteen-month stint at HarperCollins, which ended in 2003. The company he returned to was not the company he left behind. They had moved to sleek new offices in an office condominium between 55th and 56th streets; Ann Godoff was gone in one of the most publicized oustings in recent memory; Little Random had been absorbed in the same umbrella containing Ballantine and its holdings; and at the center of the new-look imprint was, and still is, president and publisher Gina Centrello. Taken together, these were clear signs of the company’s increasingly commercial shift that would play out in a major way over the next four-plus years. And yet Menaker was hired to give Little Random a distinct literary bent, which he did in the form of novelists Benjamin Kunkel, Arthur Phillips, Gary Shteyngart and Jon Clinch as well as former poet laureate Billy Collins, even if said acquisitions didn’t necessarily pay off in terms of sales.

No matter how much Menaker, Centrello and the Random House brass want to downplay the bottom line, it’s difficult to play by their rules in light of the company’s most recent shakeups – not to mention their gutting of the sales force, Bertelsmann‘s attempts to patch up the mothership after getting scared straight by former minority shareholder GBL’s threats to take their holdings public (Bookspan, anyone?) and a downturn in profits. All of which has to make one wonder about the overall health of Random House – and if more “unexpected” news is just lurking around the corner.