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May was another busy month for publishers’ human resource directors: Michael Jacobs has gone to Abrams as CEO. He was most recently SVP of Scholastic’s trade division. In addition, Ron Longe has been named Director of Publicity for STC, also part of the Martinière Group. He was most recently at Routledge.
Michael Kazan, who recently left Spier NY, has joined Bennett Book Advertising as Managing Director. . . . Dave Nelson has gone to Zagat as General Manager, Trade Sales. He was most recently at Harcourt. … Lynn Grady has been named Director of Marketing at ReganBooks, replacing Carl Raymond, who went to DK. She was most recently at Kensington. . . . Dan Verdick has become Trade Sales Director at Motorbooks. He was previously Sales & Marketing Director at ABDO. . . . Marian Lizzi is leaving St. Martin’s after 14 years, to go to Perigee as Senior Editor. She replaces Sheila Curry Oakes, who recently left for — St. Martin’s.
As widely noted, Brian Murray is returning from Australia to become Group President of HarperCollins. He will officially begin on July 6. And US General Books President and Publisher, Cathy Hemming, has left the company.
In a move that had been anticipated, EVP Mark Ouimet has left PGW and his position is being filled by his long-time associate, Karen Cross. Also leaving is Phyllis Henrici, who worked for PGW’s parent company, AMS, as Director of Bargain Sales & Purchasing. Tracy Fortini has been hired as Senior Marketing Director. She was most recently at Discovery Channel Stores.
Carol Roeder, who left Intervisual earlier this year, has been named Director of Licensing for ShoPro Entertainment, a division of Japan’s Shogakukan Publishers. She and her husband Dudley Jahnke, who has resigned as Director of Sales for M.E. Sharpe, have relocated to the West Coast.
Larry Stone, Founder and Publisher of Rutledge Hill Press, which he sold to Thomas Nelson in 1999, is retiring. Pamela Clements, VP Publicity, has immediately been named Associate Publisher, and will be named Publisher at a future date.
John Griffin has been named to succeed Stephen Lacy (who will become President and COO of Meredith Corp. on July 1) as head of the publishing group, which includes the company’s book unit and the magazine division, which he has run since June 2003.
Elke Villa has joined S&S as Director of Children’s Marketing. Ryan Harbage has joined Simon Spotlight as Editor. Nancy Hancock is joining Touchstone Fireside as Senior Editor. She was previously an Executive Editor at McGraw-Hill. S&S Director of Publicity Aileen Boyle and National Accounts Director Deb Darrock will both be promoted to Associate Publisher following the departure of Associate Publisher Melissa Possick, who has left for Taunton Press. Also joining Taunton is Pam Hoenig, who will be starting a cookbook program. She left Harvard Common Press, where she was Executive Editor.
Vivian Antonangeli has been named COO of Brighter Child Interactive in Columbus, Ohio, where she will launch a publishing venture. . . . Formerly at Wiley, Jeff Golick has joined BBC Audiobooks America as Acquisitions Editor. Wendy Strothman, who was EVP of Houghton Mifflin’s trade and reference group until June 2002 and now runs a literary agency, has brought in Dan O’Connell as Senior Publicity Director, working with clients on the early positioning of their books. He worked with Strothman at HM and Beacon. Former Yale University Press Director John Ryden is an affiliate agent in the agency.
Promotions
Scholastic’s Ellie Berger is being promoted to the position of SVP, Trade, where she will be coordinating the daily activities of the Trade Division. Berger will also be responsible for demand planning and operations and will continue in her role as Publisher of Licensed Properties. She reports to Barbara Marcus. . . . Dan Menaker, SVP of Random House Group, was appointed to the newly created position of Executive Editor-in-Chief, reporting to President and Publisher Gina Centrello. Menaker will now oversee the editorial activities of the Group’s Ballantine imprints as well. Jon Karp, has been promoted to SVP, Editor-in-Chief, reporting to Menaker. He will now oversee the editorial departments of Random House, Villard, Modern Library, and Random House Trade Paperbacks.
Nancy Miller continues as SVP, Editor-in-Chief of the Ballantine imprints, and adds the title of Executive Editor, Random House Publishing Group, also reporting to Menaker. . . . At HarperCollins Deputy Publisher of Avon/Harper Torch Darlene Delillo has been promoted to SVP. . . . S&S’s Robb Pearlman has been promoted to Associate Director, Licensing & Brand Management. Tricia Boczkowski has been promoted to Executive Editor of Simon Spotlight. . . . Kathleen Keene, CFO and Acting Director of Johns Hopkins U. Press since December, when Jim Jordan left for Columbia U. Press, has been named Director.
Duly Noted
The May/June issue of Booktech Magazine lists the top-30 book manufacturers. Quebecor, for whom book manufacturing is 11% of its total revenue, comes in first, followed by Donnelley (14%), Von Hoffman (100%), Banta (20%) and Arvato/Bertelsmann ( 91%). Only four on the list have revenues in excess of a billion dollars, and another six have revenues exceeding one hundred million dollars. Although not up at press time, the list will be posted on www.booktechmag.com.
• R.R. Bowker released its analysis of books in print, based on its database of titles and publishers. There were 175,000 new titles and editions published in 2003, which includes 3,773 titles reported to Books In Print by the three “subsidy publishers,” including Xlibris, iUniverse and AuthorHouse, according to Andrew Grabois, Senior Director of publisher relations and content development. The number of new titles released by the 12 largest trade houses increased 2.4%, to 22,914, while total output for the top-55 university presses declined 2.2%, to 12,003. Since 1994, new titles have increased 50.8% for all U.S. publishers, 24.4% for the largest trade houses, and 14.4% for university presses. General adult fiction was one of only three categories to show a decline in 2003, dipping 1.6% to 17,021 new titles and editions. This was the first year since 1991 that fiction did not register an increase, declining 1.6% to 17,021. Output of new juvenile titles continued its upward trend, increasing 45.3% to 16,283. Biography, history and religion also recorded double-digit increases.
Parties
Elaine’s was the venue both for Carroll & Graf and Grove Press, where the exceedingly charming ambassador Joe Wilson and veteran writer Jim Harrison were feted by their publishers. Wilson’s turnout included Dan Rather, Lewis Lapham, and WNYC’s Brian Lehrer. Morgan Entrekin’s party for Harrison drew authors Tony Bourdain, Phil Caputo, Joe Kanon, and Jay McInerney, among others, and their newsguy was Tom Brokaw. Also present, former Mass guv Bill Weld gave 3-to-2 odds that Bush would win.
• HarperCollins, in conjunction with The New School, held a party for the publication of Truth and Beauty, Ann Patchett’s tribute to Lucy Grealy. Nestled among the HC crew were Knopf’s Vicky Wilson, agents Fred Hill and Ira Silverberg, the NY Post’s Sara Nelson, Penguin’s Rick Kot, and Dial Publisher Susan Kamil. CEO Jane Friedman and the New School’s Robert Polito delivered touching tributes to both Patchett and Grealy.
In Memoriam
Roger W. Straus Jr. died on May 25 at the age of 87. The Farrar, Straus & Giroux founder is survived by his wife and son, Roger Straus III, a photographer and erstwhile publisher at HC and FSG.
