MERK

I don't think this will work for a publishing house like this.
In my opinion you are taking the wrong approach to this logo.
What any publishing house needs is to have a recognizable and authentic graphic mark or a strong word mark. None of this 2 logos have the required quality.
In top version you placed mark too close to main text and tried to simulate H&FJ Gestalt typeface by cutting "F" & "R". Now this would work if "ER" were your publishing house acronym but like this, it doesn't. Your execution here is pretty sloppy too. E&R have different thickness and are not integrating well.

In bottom logo version you made an interesting graphic mark that could work on its own but the whole composition lacks finesse and quality execution. It just looks too crowded.

If you are going to further explore this concept I would suggest you take bottom version of the graphic mark and try to explore different composition options, use and choice of typography. There is a lot of options that can make this logo look good, you just need to fire up your creativity and find them.