Publishers Weekly is reporting that Houghton Mifflin Harcourt (HMH) has called a temporary stop to acquisitions. Vice President of Communications Josef Blumenfeld said HMH has “temporarily stopped acquiring manuscripts,” though he did say this is “not a permanent change. In this case, it’s a symbol of doing things smarter; it’s not an indicator of the end of literature. We have turned off the spigot, but we have a very robust pipeline.”
PW notes that the move might be a corporate attempt to cut costs in addition to a response to the current broader economic situation. The article also quotes one agent who received a manuscript back, rejected under the current policy.
[Edited 30 November 2008: The Boston Globe has a more in-depth discussion of the company, as well as more speculation on what may be happening with HMH, in this article.]