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Executive Moves, Book Deals and More Industry News
FROM PUBLISHING
TRENDS (OCTOBER 2002)
People
Two major magazine publishers announce
new hires: Linda Cunningham, most recently
Publisher of Questia Media, has been named Editor-in-Chief
of Meredith Books in Des Moines. . . Sara
Levinson has been named to the newly created position
of President of the Women’s Group at Rodale.
She will oversee magazines, books, and websites in this
group. She was previously CEO and Chairman of ClubMom,
Inc., and before that, at the NFL.
Crown President and Publisher Jenny Frost
has announced a re-org: Associate Publisher Andrew
Martin and Harmony Executive Director Linda
Loewenthal are leaving the company. (Email Martin
at akmartin@worldnet.att.net.)
Steve Ross has been promoted to SVP, Publisher
of Crown, Crown Business, Three Rivers Press,
and Prima Lifestyles, and Lauren Shakely to
the same title at Clarkson Potter. Shaye Areheart
has been promoted to VP, Publisher, Harmony Books. Philip
Patrick has been named to the newly created position
of VP, Director of Marketing, Crown Publishing Group.
All will report to Frost. . . Terence Cheng is
leaving Random House, where he was Director of
Corporate Website Marketing, and will work on his next
book, “partially set during the Japanese occupation
of China during the 1930s,” he tells PT. He can
be reached via his website, www.sonsofheaven.com.
No word yet whether the position will be filled. And
Leda Liounis is also leaving Random, where she
was Executive Director, Operations for the Children’s
Division. She may be reached at Lliounis@aol.com.
. . Harriet Dorsen has
left Random, where she was SVP, Secretary and Treasurer.
Kathy Trager has been appointed SVP, General Counsel,
Random House, Inc., referred to in every press release
— while it’s still true — as “the world’s largest publisher.”
Philip
Rappaport has gone to Bantam as Senior Editor,
working for Tony Burbank. He had been Senior
Editor at the Free Press. . . Adrienne Moucheraud
has been named Director of Marketing for Bulfinch.
She was in charge of marketing for museum publications
at Abrams.
In children’s books, personnel changes continue apace:
Scott Chambers has been hired by Sesame Street
Workshop to oversee its publishing licenses, and
to develop new business opportunities. He had been at
Disney Publishing. . . Richard Dobbs has
been named Director of Sales for HarperCollins
Children’s Books. He was most recently doing co-editions
with the Met Museum. Coincidentally, his other
half, Sharon Hancock, has left Hyperion to join
Holt as Director of Children’s Marketing, replacing
Lori Benton. . . Joan DeMayo has been
named VP, Director of Random House Children’s
Sales, replacing Jack St. Mary. DeMayo was previously
at Crown. . . Susan Van Metre has been
named Senior Editor of Abrams Books for Young Readers.
She had been at Dutton Children’s Books. . .
Paula Wiseman moves from Harcourt
to S&S Books for Young Readers.
HarperCollins has announced that it has expanded its
newly named Harper Design International publishing program
(formerly known as HBI) into the US market. Harriet
Pierce has been hired as Director of Sales and Marketing
in the US, reporting to Roland Algrant, SVP and
Publisher, HarperCollins International. Pierce was formerly
VP Marketing, Assoc. Publisher at Watson-Guptill.
As reported elsewhere, Gerry Howard, Broadway
Editorial Director, resigned from his current job to
serve as Executive Editor at large for Doubleday
Broadway, reporting to Steve Rubin. Bill Thomas,
Editor-in-Chief at Doubleday, will add this job to his
current one. Stacy Creamer, whom he named Deputy
Editorial Director, will continue to serve as Executive
Editor at Doubleday. . . Running Press announced
the appointment of Michael Ward as Editorial
Director, succeeding Jennifer Worick, who resigned.
Ward most recently served as Associate Publisher of
Regnery’s Lifeline Books division. . . Several
new hires at Abrams include Stan Redfern, who
has been named VP Production. He had been with several
publishers including Reader’s Digest; Tony
Ponzo has been named controller. He had been at
Penguin and Troll, among other publishers.
Penelope Chaplin, ex-Special Sales Director of Kingfisher
and Rights/ Licensing Director of DK, has
set up “Buy the Book,” a sales service for packagers
and publishers in the UK, Canada, and the US who want
to access sales channels but do not have the resources.
She may be reached at penelopechaplin@hotmail.com.
Perry Janoski, who sells book-page advertising for
Harper’s, among others, will add ad sales
for The Economist to his roster at Allston
Cherry Ltd.
Mary Sunden, VP Penguin International,
will be leaving the company at the end of October. She
may be reached at msunden@sunden.com.
What
They’re Doing Now
Andrea Chambers,
whose editing career has spanned both books and magazines
(Time, People, Penguin Putnam, and
Primedia) has a new venture: She has turned a “longstanding
interest in education” into The Study Center,
an after-school homework center for kids in the fourth
grade and above. The Center opened September 23 at 106
East 86th Street. Later in the year, The Study Center
also plans to offer writing workshops and an introduction
to newspaper and magazine editing for high-school students.
For more information, call (212) 831-5343 or email StudyCenter101@aol.com.
Joe Esposito, onetime President of Encyclopedia
Britannica, and prior to that, head of Random’s
Reference Division, was appointed President and CEO
of SRI Consulting, a for-profit subsidiary of
SRI International, a not-for-profit research organization.
He can be reached at jesposito@sric.sri.com.
Promotions
Anne-Lise Spitzer
has been named VP Creative Marketing Director for Knopf.
She was VP Director of Sales Promotion
. . . Harcourt announces that Jennifer Gilmore has
been promoted to Publicity Director, Adult Books, replacing
Arlene Kriv who has left the company. . . Michael
Fragnito has moved from BN.com to Alan
Kahn’s new Barnes & Noble publishing division.
October Dates
Small Press Center
holds its first workshop of the season, “Today’s
Best Book Promotion Options — Online” on October 3.
On October 8, Christopher Lehmann-Haupt will
interview Jason Epstein at the Small Press Center,
at 20 W. 44th Street. Go to www.smallpress.org.
•
The Professional/Scholarly Publishing Division of
the AAP Journals Committee presents a Luncheon
Roundtable: “To Renew or Not to Renew...And What to
Renew,” on October 17 from 12:00 p.m.
to 3:00 p.m. at the AAP’s NY office, 71 Fifth Avenue
(between 14th & 15th Streets). Among those participating
are Virginia Massey-Borzio from the Eisenhower
Library at Johns Hopkins; Nathan Baum,
Digital Resources Librarian, Stony Brook University;
Carol Bekar, Group Director, Bristol-Myers
Squibb; and Suzanne Fedunok, head of Coles Science
Center, NYU. Contact Sara Brandwein at
(212) 255-0200 ext. 257.
Duly
Noted
New York Is Book
Country celebrated its 24th anniversary on September
29, with record crowds and 190 exhibitors. After a hiatus
of a year (the show had been cancelled last September),
and despite competing fairs and events (including the
New Yorker’s literary festival), initial research
suggests that many more books were sold this year than
in previous years. This is in part due to the number
of attendees, says new Executive Director Courtney
Muller, but also because more exhibitors chose to
sell books directly at their booths. In addition, there
were a broad range of high profile writers and celebrities
on hand: Target, the fair’s sponsor, had a performance
stage where Julie Andrews and R.L.
Stein were among those autographing; Barnes &
Noble had Isabella Rossellini; Mysterious
Bookshop featured Mary Higgins Clark, Lawrence
Block, and Harlan Coben; the NYPL
booth featured Art Spiegelman (a major attraction);
and Bank Street had John Lithgow on hand.
•
PW and Bookseller contributor Gayle
Feldman is doing a bio of Bennett Cerf, to
be published by — you got it — Random House. Feldman
tells PT, “The idea for doing a biography
came during my National Arts Journalism research fellowship
year at Columbia, when I spent some time going through
a fraction of his papers and found them hugely entertaining.
So I did a proposal and sent it myself to Bob Loomis
for his advice. Loomis was hired by Cerf in 1957
and also has a particular interest in publishing history.”
Loomis will edit the book, and Betsy Lerner is
the agent.
Parties
& Events
Otto Penzler and
Thomas Cook co-hosted a party with Vintage
to celebrate the publication of Best American
Crime Writing on September 17 at the Lotos Club.
Vintage honcho Marty Asher was present, along
with several of the writers from the anthology, and
various publishing and media types, including PW’s
Jeff Zaleski, Michele Slung, and Lynn
Goldberg.
•
NYIBC’s Mayor’s Reception, which kicked off
the organization’s events, took place at the imposing
Surrogate’s Court on September 24. Mike Bloomberg
himself was there, though he barely had time to
take his flak jacket off after his trip to Afghanistan.
Also present were retiring NYIBC President Linda
Exman, and Courtney Muller, who takes over
October 1; Alyse Myers, Chair of the organization;
and a slew of authors including Judy Blume, Nelson
DeMille, Dominick Dunne, Leonard Lopate,
and Malachy McCourt.
Mazel
Tov
To Ballantine,
at 50 and to AMS, turning twenty later this year.
Meanwhile, according to the press release, “Fifteen
years ago — on September 30, 1987 — Dominique Raccah
invested $17,000 from the 401K she accumulated during
her 7 years at advertising giant Leo Burnett.
She started a publishing company in an upstairs bedroom
of her home with the publication of one title: Financial
Sourcebooks Sources. That one title blossomed into
more, and today Sourcebooks publishes approximately
120 books per year in nearly every shape, size, format,
and subject.”
©2002
Publishing Trends
