PEOPLE
As we move into summer, some job changes include geographic movement, along with the usual hopping across town:
Close to home Laurie Rippon, Publisher of CollinsDesign, is leaving HarperCollins effective July 31. She may be contacted through the company until then. Meanwhile, Steve Wasserman, fresh from his LA Times gig, is once again a New Yorker, running the Manhattan office of Boston-based agency Kneerim & Williams, alongside agents Brettne Bloom and Elisabeth Weed. (The industry awaits word of which literary agency will be lucky enough to snag Time Warner‘s Larry Kirshbaum when he retires from the company.)
Further afield, Will Kiester, Publisher of Eye Quarto is relocating to Australia where he has been named Publisher of Murdoch Books. And John Kelly, ex-B&N but most recently head of Book Creation, will consolidate his operations in New Zealand (where he has spent much of the last two years) by the end of 2005. His email address, johnkelly@bookcreation.net, works in both locations.
Meanwhile Y.S. Chi, worn out by endless traveling, is leaving RH Asia, but will remain on several Random House boards. His replacement as President and CEO is Eric Yang, who will sell his interest in the Eric Yang Agency.
In more travel-heavy switches…Chronicle publicist Debbie Matsumoto is leaving the job after nearly twenty years, for North Atlantic Books, where she’ll serve as Publicity Manager of North Atlantic and Frog Ltd, ex-PGWer Mark Ouimet‘s new haunt.
And speaking of former Chronicle people, Jason Mitchell, who worked at the publisher before moving East as Quirk‘s first publicity and marketing director, is heading back west. He’ll be going to Taschen in L.A, taking the Publicity Director spot vacated by Laura Howard.
Maureen O’Neal has joined ReganMedia as a Senior Editor. She was most recently at Ballantine. . . . Allison McCabe has left Berkley for Crown, where she will be Senior Editor. . . . Philip Revzin has joined St. Martin‘s as Senior Editor. He had been at Dow Jones for most of his career, including positions as VP International and Business Development for the WSJ, and Editor and Publisher of WSJ Europe.
Bill Corsa has severed his relationship with Osprey UK and is relaunching his special sales business, Specialty Book Marketing. He may be reached at 718 849 5131.
Peter Molinari joins the National Book Network as Director of Mass Markets. He will report directly to Patricia Kelly, Senior Sales Director, who joined NBN from PGW in April. He was Mass Merchandising Sales Manager at PGW.
Following Anne Larsen‘s departure Elaine Szewczyk has been named Editor, Kirkus Reviews. She may be reached at eszewczyk@kirkusreviews.com or 646-654-5720. She previously oversaw the website. Eric Liebetrau has been named Associate Editor, Kirkus Special Projects, including Kirkus special sections, the Virginia Kirkus Awards, etc.
In ongoing after-effects of the Bloomsbury acquisition of Walker, Stephen Morrison (who went to Penguin last month) has been replaced by Eileen Pagan, who had been Rights Director for Walker. And Bloomsbury’s Director of Publicity Marian Brown is now Marketing and Editorial Director, paperbacks. Others promoted and/or reassigned to positions at Bloomsbury include Director of Marketing Maya Baran now Director of Publicity, and Sales Director Josh Wood, who is now Director of Sales Planning and Inventory. However, Art Director Krystyna Skalski has left and may be reached at 212 260 9182. Other cutbacks include Walker’s CFO, Director of Production and Design, and Production Manager as well as a number of customer service employees. Walker has relinquished its relationships with its commission sales reps.
Christina Noriega has been named Manager, Special Markets at Scholastic reporting to John Illingworth. She was at DK.
Kate Travers is moving over from Harper Perennial to be Director of the Houghton‘s paperback program including Mariner and HM paperbacks. Susan Canavan steps down as Managing Director of trade paperbacks to focus on editing.
The Ingram Book Group has formed a new proprietary and bargain merchandise operation and appointed Tom Jourdane to direct the unit. Jourdane moves to Ingram from Overstock.com and before that the AMS imprint Thunder Bay.
PROMOTIONS
David Goddy moves from VP of Scholastic Education to VP for Strategic Development at E-Scholastic, reporting to Division President Seth Radwell
In the wake of Pete McCarthy‘s departure, Jason Kincade has been promoted to Online Editor for the Penguin Group, reporting to Sandy McCarron, Content Director.
Goldberg McDuffie Communications announces that Angela Baggetta Hayes has been promoted to Deputy Director of Publicity. Hayes has been a Publicity Manager at the firm for two years, and previously at Basic.
Michelle Howry has been promoted to Senior Editor Perigee Books, which she joined in 2002.
Harper Perennial associate publisher Jennifer Hart will add the title of Associate Publisher for Ecco, as Amy Baker is promoted to Associate Director of Marketing for Ecco and Perennial. Hope Innelli is moving from Executive Editor at Harper Entertainment to Associate Publisher for the Harper trade paperback line, and now runs the Simpsons book line.
Kris Puopolo has moved from Broadway to assume the new position of Senior Editor for Doubleday Broadway, reporting to Bill Thomas with the responsibility for acquiring “serious nonfiction” for the Doubleday list.
JUNE EVENTS
MPI‘s own Constance Sayre moderates a mock negotiation of a publishing contract, at 4:30 pm on June 4th at Javits (Room 1E 03), and featuring agent Michael Carlisle, S&S Publisher David Rosenthal and Steve Sheppard and Ellis Levine, well known publishing lawyers.
National Book Foundation will be holding a raffle throughout BookExpo‘s four days at booth # 1425. Visitors to the booth who wish to enter will be asked to leave their business cards or give their email address for the drawing that will take place the following week. First place winners will receive two free tickets to this year’s National Book Awards Dinner and Ceremony and will have the opportunity to meet the 2005 Finalists. The second place winner will receive a bomber jacket brief bag, courtesy of Levenger. Winners will be announced on the National Book Foundation’s web site, www.national book.org the week of June 6.
DULY NOTED
Joyce Stein tells PT that Raab Associates Inc. is launching of Reviewers Checklist.com, an online search database for media and others looking for new books for children, teens and families. This one-stop resource provides reviewers, editors and producers a quick and easy way to locate and request new and forthcoming titles by topic, author, illustrator, publisher and seasonal interest, and it provides publishers with new ways to get the word out on their books. The site, which currently houses more than 5,000 titles from more than 40 publishers, includes Random House, Simon & Schuster, National Geographic, Scholastic and Harcourt. It is also a public resource for booksellers, educators, librarians and others interested in new children’s books.
The Academy of American Poets has unveiled a completely revamped, redesigned, and expanded version of its award-winning website, www.poets.org. Tree Swenson, the Academy’s Executive Director, said, “More poems, more articles, more links, more ways to immerse yourself in poetry-welcome to the brand new Poets.org.” In April 2005, Poets.org received 1.15 million visits, 570,000 unique visitors, and 7.8 million hits, with an average visit length of over 13 minutes.
IN MEMORIAM
Cliff Becker, Director of Literature at the National Endowment for the Arts, died on May 17, 2005, of a heart attack. Becker began his career at the NEA in 1992.
Arnold Robert Bolka, founding publisher of The Licensing Letter, a business periodical that serves the worldwide licensed merchandising community, died at his home in Scottsdale, AZ Tuesday May 31 after a short illness. He was 81 years old.
