NEW YORK — One of the country’s top publishers has turned to a man from the editorial side to run its business.

Michael Pietsch, the editor of Keith Richards’ “Life,” David Foster Wallace’s “The Pale King” and the many novels of James Patterson, has been named CEO of Hachette Book Group. Pietsch has headed the publisher’s Little, Brown and Co. division for 11 years.

“I love working closely with writers and I’m hopeful that I’ll get to continue to work with them in other ways in helping them achieve whatever they want to achieve,” Pietsch said Monday during a brief telephone interview. “I have always loved the business side of our business. I didn’t think of myself as wanting to be a CEO, but I always wanted to learn more about the business and about bringing the right book into a reader’s hands at the right moment.”

Pietsch succeeds David Young, who will step down March 31. The 61-year-old is returning to Britain to be with his family and will become deputy chief executive of Hachette UK and CEO of the Orion Publishing Group division. Pietsch will continue to report to Young, whose reign was highlighted by the rise of Stephenie Meyer and her “Twilight” novels.