PEOPLE
Phyllis Grann’s imminent departure from Penguin Putnam took almost everyone aback, and unnerved more than a few long-time Putnam folks. In other PP news, Sean Moore has left DK US, where he was VP Publisher of the Adult division. He may be reached at 914 591-3220.
David Ford came to New York over the summer and found himself plunging into interviews moments after his plane landed (he has been living on St. Simon’s Island since leaving Candlewick). He starts in November as VP Publisher of Little, Brown Children’s, succeeding John Keller, who will leave in the summer of 2002. Houghton Mifflin is still searching for a publisher, as Anita Silvey has announced plans to retire. Speaking of children’s publishing, David Krishock is succeeding David Yun, who is retiring as President of Scholastic Book Fairs. And Rosanna Hansen is leaving Weekly Reader, where she was SVP Publisher and Editor-in-Chief, to pursue her career as an author (she’s written 12 children’s books) and consultant. She can be reached at rhansen149@netzero.net. Peter Bergen, President and CEO of Weekly Reader, left several months earlier.
Linda Howey, most recently Publisher of NetLibrary, has been named VP Director of Sales for National Geographic books, which is distributed by Simon & Schuster. Meanwhile S&S announced that Cam Cloeter, previously VP of The Source Information Management Co., has been named VP Distributor Sales and Retail Marketing for S&S. He replaces Steve Kaiser, who left to join Hearst.
Leslie Meredith has been named Senior Editor and VP of Free Press, reporting to Dominick Anfuso. She was previously at Ballantine . . . . With Brill’s Contentville shutting its doors and its fifteen employees laid off, Kori Anderson will move to Inside.com, reporting to Executive Editor Sara Nelson. . . . Jane Rosenman was named Executive Editor of St. Martin’s. She was previously Executive Editor of Scribner . . . . John Silbersack, previously SVP and Publishing Director of Harper Entertainment, joined Robert Gottlieb’s Trident Media as SVP in charge of business development. . . . Word has it that Doreen Carvajal is leaving the NY Times to work for Bertelsmann in Paris. . . . David Chalfant, SVP at Siegelgale, has left the company as a result of its most recent round of layoffs. He may be reached at 212 581-9821.
Columbia U. Press has a new CFO, Rebecca Schrader. She started in August, and comes from Island Press, and before that, U. of Michigan Press. . . . Colin and Pam Webb, formerly of Pavilion Books, will launch Palazzo Editions at Frankfurt (8.0, F 911) with 20 projects, including the reissue of Alistair Cooke’s America.
As noted elsewhere, Hungry Minds’ top honchos, including John Kilcullen, Bill Barry (previously at Doubleday), John Ball, and John Harris, have left the company, following its sale to Wiley. And rightsworld has discontinued its publishing rights marketplace as of September 2001. Eric Miller was the CEO, out of Dallas, and Nick Bogarty, the President, in New York.
DULY NOTED
Thomas Middelhoff held his now-annual state-of-Bertelsmann speech on October 1 at Ford’s Theater, and declared that, with the exception of BMG’s sorry performance, the company is well positioned for its forthcoming IPO. In a Q&A, he asked the audience, “Did we all like our PC-for-all?”, and told of an email addressed to “uncle Thomas,” which suggested that for next year’s company present, the Audi 16 was a “fine automobile.”
• HarperCollins Publishers announced that it will launch the Fourth Estate imprint in the US with the publication of Carol Shields’ Unless. The book will be published simultaneously by Fourth Estate in the UK, which has published all of Shields’ novels in Britain. Christopher Potter, Publisher and Managing Director of Fourth Estate, and Dan Halpern, Vice President, Editorial Director of Ecco and Executive Editor of the HarperCollins General Books Group, will be co-publishers of Fourth Estate US. Clive Priddle will serve as Publishing Director for Fourth Estate in the US. Courtney Hodell, who recently joined HarperCollins UK from Random US, will be Publishing Director, Fourth Estate in the UK. In addition, Nicky Eaton, Fourth Estate Publicity Director, will take on extra responsibility as Deputy Managing Director.
• The board of Consortium Book Distributors is entertaining offers for the company, and though both the board and senior management would prefer that the buyer be local, “we will be exploring all viable sources,” according to Bill Hammond, who will handle inquiries. Contact him at Publishing Strategy International, 612 349-2714 or pubstrat1@aol.com.
• Michael Cader announces the launching of Publishers Marketplace, “an electronic place to help publishing professionals of all sorts find each other, and find important information.” The basic search is free, but there will be (eventually) a $15 monthly fee for access to the new deal database, and posting privileges. Go to www.Publishers Marketplace.com.
• Jennifer McCord, our correspondent at the Pacific Northwest Booksellers Association’s meeting on Sept. 14-16 in Portland, Oregon, reports that show numbers were close to last year, even though several participants cancelled, unable to find transportation to the Northwest. As for sales, “the show was steady,” according to Gary Lothian of Ingram, while Luis Borella of Redsides, an independent rep group, added that “it was initially slow, but gained momentum.” Portland’s own Chuck Palahniuk even popped in on very short notice.
OCTOBER DATES
The “Frankfurt Big Questions Conference” is scheduled for Monday, Oct. 8 in Frankfurt. Peter Olson and a bevy of speakers from the US and Europe will address, well, the big questions confronting publishers. Go to www. frankfurt-book-fair.com.
• Small Press Center has publishing workshops every Tuesday evening starting on October 2nd and running through Nov. 12th, at its offices at 20 W. 44th Street. Email info@smallpress.org for details.
• Book Industry Study Group hosts “Beyond The Hype: The Realities of Digital Publishing,” on October 24 from 2:00 – 5:00 pm at The McGraw Hill Auditorium, 1221 Ave. of the Americas. Three panels will focus on “The Logic of Digital Publishing,” “Delivering e-Content,” and “Inter-Operability: Putting the Pieces Together.” The conference will be co-chaired by Frank Daly, Executive Director of BISG, and Charles Benante (Pearson Technology), Chair of BISG. It’s $150 per person (BISG members $50). Email Bill@bookinfo.org for details.
PARTIES
Many parties and events were cancelled over the past few weeks, but a handful took place as scheduled, albeit with a certain somberness.
• On September 21, the Association of Authors’ Representatives celebrated its 10th anniversary at a gala event at the W Hotel in Union Square, with 300 attendees. Jane Gelfman, Owen Laster, Don Congdon, Deborah Schneider, Jamie Raab, Michael Carlisle, Maria Carvanis, Molly Stern, as well as numerous “great young editors and agents” attended, according to our correspondent. There was a “festive feeling, good bags of books and audio tapes. . . . People seemed so glad to commune with one another.”
• The same could be said for Ecco Press’s 30th anniversary, celebrated at the Century Club on September 24th. Authors (including Fran Liebowitz and Francine Prose), HarperCollins colleagues, agents, and friends of Dan Halpern toasted the publisher and remarked on how glad they were to have the chance to take their minds off recent events — even as they compared notes on what they had experienced over the prior two weeks.
• On September 25 Tom Dunne, Barbara Lowenstein, Madeleine Morel, and 50 volunteers from St. Martin’s hosted a fundraiser for various 9/11 charities, and raised over $100K. The same night, Publishers Publicity Association had its annual “mixer” at the Time-Life auditorium, and got a good crowd, presumably some of whom proceeded downtown thereafter.
MAZELTOV
To Curious George, who turns 60 this fall, and to Moby Dick, which turns 150.
