PEOPLE
Karen Holt has been named Deputy Editor at PW, reporting to Sara Nelson, for whom she had worked at Simba. Holt came from The Book Standard and she starts March 14. Michael Coffey will become Executive Managing Editor. Meanwhile, erstwhile PW Editor Nora Rawlinson has joined Time Warner Book Group in the new position of VP Library Services, reporting to Maureen Egen.
Comings and goings at Random include: Publishing Director of the Modern Library David Ebershoff is stepping down to become Editor-at-Large, while Penguin’sJane von Mehren will become publisher of trade paperbacks for Little Random, reporting to Gina Centrello. Jennifer Hershey starts at Random House on March 14, as Editorial Director, reporting to Jonathan Karp. She spent the past three years at Putnam. Susan Mercandetti, Senior Acquisitions Editor for MiramaxBooks, joins Random on April 4 as Senior Editor. Lee Boudreaux, who left Random House in late January, has gone to Ecco/HarperCollins as Executive Editor.
Speaking of Harper, Executive Editor Mark Bryant is leaving, and Olga Vezeris has left Harper Audio. She is now available for freelance editorial, reading, book doctoring etc., and may be reached at 212 744 8842, ovezeris@aol.com. Jacqueline Murphy was named Executive Editor, Harper Audio, earlier in the year. . . . And Susan Friedland retired from Harper at the end of February and left her forwarding address: susan.friedland@gmail.com.
Chris Mckenney , who had been EVP/COO, resigned from his position with PGW, effective February 18th.
Herman Graf has gone to Hylas Publishing as a general business consultant, overseeing trade sales and working with NBN. He will also oversee the catalogers and co-op operations as well as develop a school and library market base. Marketing Manager Joyce Stein has left the company.
Mary Hogan Wilcox joins Houghton Mifflin Children’s Books in the new position of Director of franchise publishing. She will “oversee the editorial direction and execution of Houghton Mifflin and Clarion franchise publishing initiatives” and work on “brand extension publishing opportunities” within the company’s backlist. Wilcox was Editorial Director at HarperFestival.
Christopher Reggio , who was the Associate Publisher and Director of Adult Trade Publishing at Readers Digest is leaving to become Publisher of books at TFHPublications, the pet book publisher based in New Jersey.
Pat Eisemann has been named Assistant Director of Community Affairs and Media Relations at the New York Times, reporting to VP Marketing, Alyse Myers. Most recently she was the Director of Publicity at Scribner.
S&S Children’s Publishing is establishing a new Merchandise Division as part of a plan to enter the coloring and activity marketplace. Steve Weitzen has joined the company as SVP and Publisher, Merchandise Division. Weitzen comes to S&S from Big Tent Entertainment LLC. He was at Golden prior to that. And at Spotlight Entertainment, Jennifer Suitor has been made Director of Publicity , reporting to SSE VP and Publisher Jen Bergstrom. Suitor held the same position at ReganBooks.
Dave Griscom has moved to Klutz as a National Accounts Manager (handling B&N, Borders & Wholesalers). He had been at Clocktower Press and previously, at Random House.
Bookspan moves to 15 East 26th Street as of March 14. The general phone number will be 212-651-7400 and there will not be any individual phone extensions. Meanwhile, in what looks like the beginning of a major absorption of editorial under the marketing umbrella at Bookspan (see story, page 1), Brigitte Weeks’ position as Editor in Chief has been eliminated; Patty Gift has left Bookspan for Sterling, where she will report to Steve Magnuson. More positions in editorial and marketing are to be eliminated, according to industry tea leaf readers.
Christopher Sweet has left Abrams for Vendome. Susan Enochs has been named Director of Marketing for Abrams. She was Director of Sales and Marketing for Monacelli Press. . . . Phil Friedman, most recently at OUP has gone to HarperInformation to take the job vacated by Steve Hanselman at the end of last year.
As widely reported, Carole Baron has decided to step down from her role as President of Putnam and Dutton after six years. Brian Tart, previously Dutton Publisher’s, will now also be named President of the imprint. Susan Peterson Kennedy assumes responsibility for Putnam. . . . Meanwhile, Mark Chait joins NAL as Senior Editor, focusing on military fiction and nonfiction, as well as pop culture and general nonfiction for men. He was at Hyperion. The company has laid off a number of back-office and sales positions. No exact number as yet, but the cuts reportedly come at Viking and Putnam in the U.S. as well as other divisions at Penguin U.K.
Ed Monagle , former SVP of Finance for Scholastic, has left the company and may be reached at 732 259-2027.
Betsy Lerner has become a partner in the newly formed agency Dunow, Carlson & Lerner. Lerner had been at The Gernert Company, The beginning of a new year seems to have prompted some early spring cleaning, with an unusual number of moves around the industry. Elisa Petrini joined Vigliano Associates as a VP and Literary Agent. Petrini will be based in the agency’s new Manhattan offices at 405 Park Avenue.
Susan Bain has joined Sourcebooks as National Accounts Manager, Trade Group. She was previously Field Sales and Marketing Manager for Kensington Publishing. And Jennifer Downey has been appointed National Accounts Manager, Independent and Educational Bookstores.
Pam Morlett has been named Publisher of Thunder Bay Press and Director of adult proprietary publishing for AMS. She was category buyer for AMS and replaces Ann Ghublikian who may be reached at 413 698 8007.
PROMOTIONS
Carl Raymond has been appointed Publishing Director, Adult Books for DK Publishing, reporting to Bill Barry. Raymond joined DK in March of last year as Director of Marketing from ReganBooks where he had held the same title.
Meanwhile, Christopher Davis has announced his plans to retire from the company.
Anthony Chirico was named President, Knopf Publishing Group. He was previously EVP, COO. . . . Scott Matthews was promoted to the post of SVP and Publisher of Random House Audio and Large Print, reporting to David Naggar, adding responsibility for the children’s audio lines Listening Library and Imagination studio.
At HarperCollins, Tom Ward has been promoted to the newly created position of VP, Director of Business Affairs and Associate General Counsel, reporting to Chris Goff .
Lisa Gallagher has been named Publisher of the William Morrow, HarperEntertainment and Eos imprints. She reports to Michael Morrison, President and Group Publisher HarperMorrow. She was Associate Publisher.
FEBRUARY EVENTS
NYU’S Third Management Forum for Independent Publishers will be held on April 15-16. Among the speakers in this useful, nuts and bolts program are Nielsen Bookscan‘s Jim King, Bookspan‘s Larry Shapiro, Perseus‘s David Steinberger, and Ingram‘s Phil Ollila. The price is $950 or $855 before March 18. Call 212 992 3236 or www.scps.nyu.edu/indy
March is Small Press Month at the Small Press Center and on Wednesday, March 16 at 6 pm The Women’s National Book Association presents University & Academic Presses – New Challenges, New Directions, a panel discussion. Tickets are $10; $5 for students and Small Press Center members; free for WNBA members. For information call 212-208-4629. For information on others Small Press Month events email info@smallpress.org, or go to http://www.smallpress.org/.
DULY NOTED
At the Books for a Better Life Awards on February 28, WHAT TO EXPECT co-author Heidi Murkoff and former CEO of Bantam, Oscar Dystel were inducted into the Hall of Fame. Speaking of Dystel, Bantam President (and one time assistant to Dystel) Irwyn Applebaum described his genius: “while Oscar had the soul of a reader, he had the brain and drive of a businessman.”
