Publisher Houghton Mifflin Harcourt has temporarily suspended acquisitions of new manuscripts, according to a report in The New York Times.

The company, which was formed by Houghton Mifflin Riverdeep’s $4 billion takeover of Harcourt in July 2007, has undergone staff layoffs and other turbulence during its consolidation period. But just a month ago, the company held a party in its downtown Manhattan offices to celebrate the completion of the union.

Josef Blumenfeld, vice president of communications, said the company had temporarily stopped acquiring manuscripts.

There is a freeze-lite, he said. There is a way in so it is not a hard freeze but for right now, there is a temporary ” call it a freeze if you want.

Blumenfeld goes on to explain that new manuscripts will be subjected to “a higher degree of scrutiny and consideration” than they would have been previously.