Book
View
Executive
Moves, Book Deals, and More Industry News
FROM PUBLISHING
TRENDS (JUNE 2003)
People
Latest dope on AOLTWP:
with funding tight, Perseus is said to be out
of the running, while Random, which raised some
capital recently and is looking for a deal, is the likeliest
purchaser. Meanwhile, in the latest reshufflings: RH
Value Publishing’s President Lynn Bond has left
the company, following in the wake of the three executives
who were downsized last month. She will be replaced
by Sheryl Stebbins, who was VP, Publisher for
the RH Information Group. Jeanne Kramer has been
promoted into Stebbins’ position. John Pearce,
Executive Editor at Random House of Canada, has
also left the company. He may be reached at jrpearce@sympatico.ca.
Random is keeping mum about the number of employees
who have taken its early retirement package, but sources
tell us that most come from Westminster. In New York,
Anne McCormick, longtime Sub. Rights Manager
at Knopf, is one who has decided to open the
“window of opportunity” package offered in March. She
leaves May 30 and may be reached at ahmathome@aol.com.
Her successor is Victoria Gerken, moving from
the RH Rights Department. And at Random/Ballantine,
Nicole Bond moves over from Maria Campbell Associates
to become Foreign Rights Manager for the Random list.
Rachel Kind handles Ballantine foreign
rights and both report to Claire Tisne.
Bill Rosen, VP Executive Editor at The
Free Press, has left the company and is reachable
at jandbrosen@patmedia.net.
. . Michael Murphy, most recently at Calloway
and CDS, has gone to F&W as Sales
Director. . . Andrew Smith has been hired as
Candlewick’s VP of Sales. He replaces Tammy
Johnston, who left Candlewick in February after
eight years with the company. Smith was most recently
at Random House Children’s. Carol Roeder, another
vet of children’s publishing (at S&S), has
been named EVP International Publishing & Global
Packaging Sales for Intervisual Publications
in LA. She will work out of NY. Intervisual continues
to look for a CEO, to be based in California.
Columbia
U.’s National Arts Journalism Program (NAJP)’s
new research fellowships include Bill Goldstein,
currently Books Editor for WNBC and The New
York Times on the Web, and Laurie Muchnick,
Book Editor at Newsday. Speaking of Columbia
U., ex CUP Director Bill Strachan has been named
Executive Editor at Hyperion.
Kate Hartson announced the formation of new publishing
house Yorkville Press, where she will be both
President and Publisher. She held editorial positions
at Ballantine, Bantam, and Random Value, and
most recently at Time Life Books.
In agency news: Amy Berkower has been named President
and CEO of Writers House. She replaces Al
Zuckerman, who becomes Chairman. . . Linda Loewenthal,
previously Editor- in-Chief of Harmony, has moved
to the David Black Agency and can be reached
at lloewenthal@dblackagency.com.
As noted elsewhere, Andrew Martin has been named
VP and Publisher of Sterling. He was most recently
SVP, Assoc. Publisher of the Crown Publishing
Group. Meanwhile, Crown has hired Jed Donahue,
who has been working at Regnery Publishing since
1997, as an editor for their Forum imprint. And speaking
of conservative, Brad Miner has been named editor
of Bookspan’s newest club, a rival to Eagle
Publishing’s Conservative Book Club.
Ilan Yeshua, CEO of Encyclopedia Britannica,
is leaving EB to return to Israel, according to the
tom-toms. . . Claire Griffin has gone to John
Wiley as Marketing Director. She was previously
at NYU Press. . . HarperCollins Sub. Rights
dept. has a new Manager: Jim Geraghty, formerly
of Viking and Random. He replaced Mary Beth Guimaeres,
who will move with her husband to San Diego. . . Wendy
Hubbert has left Tarcher/ Putnam,
where she was Senior Editor.
Clive Priddle, who opened the US office of HarperCollins’
Fourth Estate imprint, will move to PublicAffairs
as Executive Editor, succeeding Paul Golob, who
moved to Times Books. Harper announced that Courtney
Hodell will relocate back to NYC from HarperCollins
UK to become Editorial Director of Fourth Estate US.
Hodell was Publishing Director of Fourth Estate UK since
2001.
Still in the British-publishing-in-NY vein: Patricia
O’Hare has been appointed to the newly created position
of President of The Nicholas Brealey Publishing
Group North America. She was most recently VP Business
Development at NBN. And Joan Brookbank
(jb@merrellpublishersusa.com)
has been named US Director of Merrell Publishers.
Steven
Oppenheim joins the Penguin Group as VP and
Director of Publicity for G.P. Putnam’s Sons and Riverhead
Books, reporting to Marilyn Ducksworth. Previously
he ran Oppenheim Communications. He replaces Mi Ho
Cha. In other Penguin news, Grosset & Dunlap
and PSS have merged, with Bonnie Bader
as Editorial Director, reporting to Debra Dorfman.
Jane O’Connor remains Editor-at-Large and Kelli
Chipponeri has been promoted to Senior Editor of
the combined group. Nadine Topalian, previously
at Dial, has been named Senior Managing Editor.
Grosset will focus on series and licenses, and PSS on
novelty and holiday-related books as well as Mad Libs
and Wee Sing.
Cleo Coy, known to many from her days at Booksmith,
Walden, and more recently Learningsmith,
is now a freelance editor. Email cleocoy@adelphia.net
or call (561) 393-3590 (in Boca Raton, FL).
June
Dates
The Council of Literary
Magazines and Presses (CLMP) celebrates the 4th
Annual Literary Magazine Fair at Housing Works Used
Book Café (see article)
on June 15. Contact Katherine Sarkis at (212) 741-9110
x 12.
•
Poets House’s Eighth Annual Poetry Walk across
the Brooklyn Bridge takes place Monday, June 16 at 6:30
pm. Bob Holman will MC, and Galway Kinnell,
Grace Paley, and Quincy Troupe are among
those who will take part in the walk. Go to www.poetshouse.org.
Duly
Noted
Publishing Trends
has learned that PW’s ABC audit data for
the six months ending 12/02 shows a 5.5% decline in
total circulation, to 27,363. Publishers and agents
are down over 7%; booksellers are down over 6% in the
six-month period. Libraries are steady at 9,247. Publisherslunch.com
(which is free) has reached a circulation of just over
19,000.
• Jack Macrae and his wife Paula Cooper
celebrated the opening of their idiosyncratic bookstore,
192 Books (at 192 10th Avenue) with a champagne
reception on May 21. In keeping with their plan that
the inventory would reflect “a dialogue between art
and literature,” guests included Wally Shawn,
Paul Auster, Roger Angell, Calvin Tompkins,
and Alastair Reid. Artists included Claes
Oldenburg and Wayne Gonzales. Also there
was Kate Levin, NYC’s Commissioner of Culture.
There will be regular author appearances, with themed
exhibitions every month. Go to www.192books.com.
•
Kathy Parker, co-creator
of Barney, and Phil Parker, Barney composer,
are back. After an absence following their departure
from the Lyons Group, they have founded Marsupial
Media, and have completed the development phase
of a preschool TV series, Pockets ’n Play, addressing
preschool kids’ need for guided physical activity and
motor skill development. John Gildea, ex-Hasbro
executive, is also on board. They tell PT they
are looking for the ideal partners — for print and television
— for this worldwide property. Contact John Gildea at
johngildea@cox.net
or (401) 885-0653.
Parties
There were star-studded events in New York this
May, including the UJA gala honoring Borders’
Greg Josefowicz; Larry Ashmead’s retirement
party, which made its way into Liz Smith’s column;
and Newmarket’s Four Seasons party for Anne
Ford, which drew Michael Bloomberg, among
others. Another interesting confluence of bold-facers
occurred on May 19: the memorial service for Leonardo
Mondadori, held at the Lotos Club, attracted a cosmopolitan
group including speakers Diane Von Furstenburg,
Clive Davis, Michael Kennedy, Mort
Janklow, and Alberto Vitale, and attendees
including Peter Olson, Arnold Scaasi,
Susan Moldow, Michael Lynton, and Sonny
Mehta.
Mazel
Tov
To Ivan Held and Patricia Falvo Held, parents
of George Henry, born May 13.
©2003
Publishing Trends
