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Executive
Moves, Book Deals and More Industry News
FROM PUBLISHING
TRENDS (JUNE 2001)
People
As announced previously,
Bill Shinker will join Penguin Putnam as
SVP and Publisher of an as yet unnamed imprint, on Sept.
4. He was most recently at Free Press, where
he had been Publisher from August 2000 to his resignation
at the beginning of April.
Ken Wright, formerly at Holt Reference, has
been named Editorial Director, Scholastic Reference
replacing Wendy Barish, who has retired. Other
Scholastic appointments: Spencer Humphrey, who
joined Scholastic when they acquired the Barney
publishing program, has been named VP, Director of Mass
merchandise product reporting to Jean Feiwel.
Ellie Berger, in addition to her current role as
Book Group Cross Divisional Director, adds the title
VP, Deputy Publisher, directing all licensing and media
business relationships and product development in these
areas. And Bernette Ford, founder and editorial
director of Cartwheel, is branching out to develop an
imprint of African American and Latino titles for the
very young as Editorial Director of Special Projects.
In Norton’s publicity department, Marian Brown
is filling in for Louise Brockett, who is on
maternity leave until September. . . Patrick Reilly,
the one-time publishing reporter at the WSJ,
and subsequently at the pr megapower Robinson, Lehrer,
Montgomery, has gone to Bertelsmann to work
for Andreas Schmidt, head of ecommerce; meanwhile
Kevin Goldman, also once at the WSJ,
and subsequently SVP Communications for WalkerDigital,
has gone to Bookspan as VP Communications. He
will work out of the 1271 Ave. of Americas office, and
report to Bill Gatti, SVP Human Resources. Speaking
of WSJ, Dominick V. Anfuso has been named
vice president, editorial director of the Free Press,
S&S Source and Wall St. Journal Books,
reporting to Martha Levin.
Dorchester has announced that George Sosson
is the new President and Publisher, following Lisa
Rasmussen’s departure earlier in the month. She
may be reached at 917 886-2561. . . Thea Feldman,
GVP and General Manager of the books division at Sesame
Workshop, has left the company. She may be reached
at 212 989-5330. . . And S&S’s Children’s Publishing
has announced that in restructuring its paperback division,
positions held by Nancy Pines, and by Ingrid
van der Leeden, have been eliminated. Ellen Krieger
has been promoted to the newly created position of VP
Associate Publisher of paperback books, and will oversee
Aladdin and Pulse. She will report to v-p and publisher
Brenda Bowen. According to Kristina Peterson,
President of the children’s publishing division, new
editorial and marketing positions will be announced
after ALA.
Speaking of children’s publishing, Willa Perlman
has joined the Cheyenne Group, a consulting
firm with headquarters in New York. She will work from
her Rhode Island home. . . Steve Cohen, most
recently CEO of Brainquest.com, is the latest
addition to The Popular Group, the company recently
launched by Jack Hoeft. Other recent hires include
Jane Leventhal and David Lappin . . .
Arlene Kriv has been named Director of Publicity
and Advertising for Harcourt Trade Books. She
was Director of Publicity for Basic Books. .
. Rob Grover joins Four Walls Eight Windows
as editor. He previously worked in television, and was
an Associate Editor at Knopf.
Virtual
People
Lucinda Karter (in the New
York Office) and Nick Webb (in London) have left
Rightscenter, though no announcements have been
made.
June
Dates
Pat Schroeder will
be honored by the UJA on June 6th at the Grand
Hyatt. Contact Marcy Frank at 212 836-1448.
•
The Licensing Show is back in town, June
11–14, at the Javits Center. Golden Books, Scholastic,
and Hungry Minds are among those exhibiting. Call 800
331-5706 for more information about the show, or go
to www.licensingshow.com.
•
The ALA Annual Convention is in San Francisco
this year, June 14–20. Go to www.ala.org/events.
•
Michael Cader’s next Live Lunch in NY on June 20
is a “Legal Lunch,” on the subjects of contracts, electronic
licensing, and the complexities of copyright. Trident
Media’s Robert Gottlieb and attorneys Ken
Norwick (who represents then AAR) and Helene
Godin are the speakers. To reserve, email michael@caderbooks.com.
Duly
Noted
Publisher presence at the Premium Incentive
show was minimal — which presented a fine opportunity
for the smaller ones who were there, such as Trafalgar
Square, Kensington, and World Almanac
— all of whom said business was booming. A possible
indication of the downward trend in business generally,
and books specifically, might have been seen at the
booth Buyenlarge.com, a poster company run by
Paris Pierce — 25% owned by B&N.com.
They had been developing a very successful program with
BN.com selling classic book jackets as posters or reduced
and suitable for framing. This business has now been
successfully transformed from one selling art to one
selling chocolate. From Harry Potter to To Kill
A Mockingbird, you can buy your chocolate bars suitably
encased.
Parties
May, traditionally a busy pub party month, began
with a signing and party at the Madison Avenue Bookstore,
thrown by David Godine to honor William Zinsser,
not for On Writing Well, but as the author of
a book about American songwriters, Easy to Remember.
May also marked the first time the UJA honored a
German, Thomas Middelhof. The occasion was the
annual Steven J. Ross dinner and there was a
large crowd, though very few publishers. (The Entertainment,
Media & Communications Division hosted this $1000
per ticket event, rather than the Publishing Division,
whose tickets go for a relatively modest $600.) Although
all the music industry luminaries were there, other
than Peter Olson and some Random House
execs, no other publishers were present. They’re undoubtedly
saving their pennies for the June 6th dinner honoring
AAP’s Pat Schroeder.
Otto
Penzler and Herman Graf threw a party for
his author, Joyce Carol Oates, at the Players
Club on May 22. Guests included NY DA Robert Morthenau
and wife, Lucinda Franks, Russell Banks,
Edmund White, and Gloria Vanderbilt. The
same evening DK Publishing and The New York
Times celebrated the publication of Campaigns:
A Century of Presidential Races, by Ted Widmer
and Alan Brinkley, at the Times. And the Janklow
& Nesbit Agency launched the BEA with a party
at their offices on May 29 for international publishers,
from Leonardo Mondadori to Shona Martyn
of HC Australia to a substantial Japanese contingent
who then got on their planes for Chicago.
Mazeltov
Congratulations to Three
Rivers Press’s Becky Cabaza and Broadway’s
Charlie Conrad on the birth of their first child,
a boy, Carlos Patrick Conrad on 23rd May.
Congrats also to Norton’s Louise Brockett and
husband Mark, on the birth of twin boys John Duley and
Thomas Wadsworth on May 25.
©2001
Publishing Trends
