PEOPLE
Following the doldrums of December, January brought some major moves, including Michael Jacobs’ sortie from Scholastic, and David Steinberger’s installation as the President and CEO of the Perseus Books Group.
Movement is everywhere: Random House has combined its two separate retail sales forces into a single unit, resulting in the departure of at least ten people, including Tom Lovett, Jay Cosgrove (heyjaycjayc@netscape.net), and Alan Trask. Paul Kozlowski will direct the combined force as VP Director of Retail Field Sales. Chris Waters remains VP Deputy Director of Retail Field Sales, and Ruth Liebmann continues as Director Independent Bookselling; both report to Kozlowski. In other Random news, Candice Chaplin has moved from Random National Accounts to Hyperion, where she assumes the title Director of Sales from recently departed Michael Burkin. Sid Albert, who retired from Random, is now Sales Director of Other Press, replacing Paul Harrington, who has been named powerHouse’s new Sales Director.
Finally, the ex-Randomites Kathleen Spinelli (kspinelli@ brandstobooks.com) and Robert Allen (rallen@ brandstobooks.com) have founded Brands to Books Inc. Literary Agency. They will specialize in creating books from recognized or developing brands and will also advise on brand extension.
Eric Kettunen has been named Director of Marketing at PGW, replacing Michele Crim, who left PGW for NBN, taking the position held by the late Miriam Bass. He was most recently at SF-based graphic novel publisher Viz.
Carol Roeder has left Intervisual, where she was EVP Global Concept Publishing. Previously she was at S&S Children’s. She may be reached at cr21@earthlink.net or by phone at (914) 428-9580. . . . Laurie Bernstein has left Rodale, where she had been Editor-at- Large. She may be reached at (917) 648-7007. . . . Wiley Senior Editor/Culinary, Susan Wyler has left the company to reopen her writing/packaging/editing operation, King Hill Productions. She may be reached at (570) 727-3939.
Penguin has also had a busy month: HarperCollins’ Megan Newman has moved to Penguin in the newly created position of Publisher of Penguin Reference, with responsibility to oversee a reference-oriented program, including Avery Books and Viking Studio. Kate Stark has been named Associate Publisher. Lots of promotions, too: Barbara O’Shea has been promoted to the position of President, Non-Trade Sales and New Business Development at Penguin. Joel Fotinos was promoted to VP of Jeremy P. Tarcher, Inc. (Tarcher/Penguin). Susan Allison has been named VP, Editorial Director of the Berkley Publishing Group. Finally, Laureen Rowland announced that her imprint will be called Hudson Street Press and publish its first titles in Winter 2005.
Meanwhile, Tracy Tang has left her position as President and Publisher of Puffin Books “to pursue other interests.”
Barron’s has hired Mike Campbell as Sales Manager, reporting to ex-Penguinite Alex Holtz. . . . Ed Lenk has left Modern Publishing after 25 years. He may be reached at (201) 947-4710 or FLNJ@aol.com. . . . Erstwhile editor Bob Levine is returning to publishing via a relationship with John Cerullo’s Amadeus Press, where he will package several lines of books and CD/DVDs aimed at educating and entertaining the classical music loving public. Levine may be reached at operafella@aol.com or (212) 535-3346.
Where are they now? Gerry Helferich, Publisher of Wiley’s general books, and his wife, Teresa Nicholas, Production Director at Crown, left their jobs in 2002 and moved to Mexico to write. Now Helferich’s book Humboldt’s Cosmos, about naturalist and adventurer Alexander von Humboldt, will be published by Gotham this spring. . . . David Kirkpatrick, the last admitted NYT book beat reporter, is now covering the conservative beat. . . . Michael Lynton, one time CEO of Penguin and recently named Chairman of Sony Pictures, was spotted schmoozing with the stars at the Golden Globe Awards.
FEBRUARY EVENTS
“Many of these books are simply insane,” says Nancy Balbirer, co-creator of Cause Celeb in a recent NYT article. She’s referring to the weekly Monday night “highly-theatrical autobiography reading series” at the Noho club, Fez. Each week centers around a different theme, with February 2 devoted to Sex, Drugs, and Rock-n-Roll. “A rotating roster of performers will read the juiciest passages from stories by Marianne Faithfull, Bebe Buell, David Cassidy, Pamela Des Barres, and many more.” February 9 stars Michael Musto, Carl Andress, and Larry Bullock as Cupid. Audience members are invited to pick from his grab bag of over-the-top autobiographies, which the cast will then read, with feeling. Call (212) 533-7000 for tickets and times.
• On February 4 BISG and VISTA host a conference on “Making Information Pay.” The focus of the half-day conference is how publishers, distributors, and
retailers are reinventing traditional industry practices to improve channel performance. Speakers include Michael Cairns, President of Bowker, Jonathan Nowell, EVP, Nielsen BookData; Dominique Raccah, President and Publisher, Sourcebooks; Mike Shatzkin, CEO The Idea Logical Company; and Jean Srnecz, SVP of Merchandising, Baker & Taylor. Ted Hill will moderate. For information, go to http://bisg.org.
• The 2004 National Book Foundation Gold Medal Tour kicks off on Wednesday, February 18 at 6:30 p.m. with “An Evening With the Winners” at The Celeste Bartos Forum of The New York Public Library. The Winners of the 2003 National Book Award — Carlos Eire, Waiting for Snow in Havana; Shirley Hazzard, The Great Fire; Polly Horvath, The Canning Season; and C.K. Williams, The Singing: Poems — will give a talk on their “writing lives” and answer audience questions. The event will be followed by a reception.
• Meredith Vieira hosts the Eighth Annual “Books for a Better Life Awards” ceremony on Monday, February 23rd at the Millennium Broadway Hotel from 6-8 p.m. For information or tickets, go to www.msnyc.org or call (212) 463-7787.
• The Small Press Center hosts a panel on “Getting Published: What Literary Agents and Editors Are Looking for in 2004.” The panel includes agent James Fitzgerald, Kim Goldstein from the Susan Golomb Literary Agency, P.J. Dempsey, Senior Editor at M. Evans and Company, and Caroline White, Senior Editor at Viking Penguin. Lloyd Jassin, a media lawyer, will moderate. The event takes place at the Small Press Center, 20 West 44 St., on Thursday, January 15th, 2004, 6:30 to 9:15 p.m. For more information, go to www.smallpress.org.
AND IN MARCH
The annual Poets & Writers Gala Benefit Dinner takes place March 2 at Tribeca Rooftop. Judy Blume, Oakley Hall, and Sharon Olds will be honored. For more information go to www.pw.org.
DULY NOTED
According to the AAP, net trade sales in 2002 were responsible for $6.93 billion (roughly $12 billion at retail), and 2003 looked pretty flat. Which makes a recent article in USA Today even more impressive — or distressing, depending on your point of view. According to the article, DVD retail sales for 2003 hit $17.5 billion, with another $5.4 billion in rentals, representing an average of 17 DVDs per owner. While the article contrasts these figures to the lackluster revenues from the box office, music sales, and TV, books are barely mentioned.
The Wall Street Journal takes up where USA Today leaves off, showing in a recent article that everything is relative: consumers spend an average of 2 hours per week reading, versus just over 1 hour per week watching videocassettes and DVDs. So how are they spending the rest of their leisure time? TV watching is up to 20 hours per week.
