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.”
