PEOPLE
Will Kiester is returning to the US after 18-months in Australia at Murdoch Books, to become Publisher of Fairwinds Press, an imprint of Rockport Publications. Previously, He had been at Quarto.
Kaylee Davis’ position at Bookspan’s Children’s BOMC/KBP was eliminated in a reorganization. The company has decided to focus the club in a more educational direction, and it now will be run by the professional clubs. She may be reached at kndavis@optonline.net
Effective in January, Basic Books’ JoAnn Miller is “transitioning” out of her role of VP, Editorial Director to Editor at Large. Miller approached Perseus CEO David Steinberger with this “about a month ago,” Miller told PT.
Granta will open a New York office next year, according to The Bookseller. Run by Matt Weiland, currently Deputy Editor of Granta magazine (who will also take on the role of Associate Publisher in the US), Granta is published in association with Grove/Atlantic and distributed to the trade by PGW in the US. Weiland is moving back to New York in January 2007, where he will combine his deputy editorship of the magazine with overseeing its American launch and its spin-off anthologies. He will work initially out of the Grove/Atlantic offices before looking to open a separate office.
As announced elsewhere, Katie Workman, Associate Publisher of Workman, will be leaving at the end of the year. Perhaps in another sign of the parlous cookbook times, Chris Pavone is leaving Workman’s Artisan imprint after just over a year at the company. Last month, cookbook maven Harriet Bell left HarperCollins.
After a short stint at Ingram Publisher Services, Sally Hertz has left the company and has gone back into consulting. She may be reached at BookPublish2@aol.com. . . . Christine Jones has joined S&S as non-trade Sales Director. . . . John Niedhart joined DK as the B&N National Accounts Sales Manager. He has held editorial positions at O’Reilly Media and Addison Wesley and previously had worked at B&N.
Virgin Books has established a U.S. branch with offices in New York City and Ken Siman has been named Publisher, reporting to K.T. Forster, MD of Virgin Books. Siman was VP, Editor, and Publicity Director of Tarcher/Penguin.
Consortium CEO Don Linn, who bought Consortium in 2002, will continue to play “a key role” in the transition until January 1, when he will leave the company. He may be reached at DLinn@cbsd.com.
Farah Miller, Manager of New Media is leaving Knopf for Modern Bride magazine. . . . Laura Quinn, Assistant Director, Domestic Rights at Crown has left the company.
Among the 25 or so Random House sales employees who lost their jobs in the recent cut are Bruce Dasse (203.453.4294), and Marita Yogore, along with reps in the field and sales management people in the New York office.
Diane Reverand has left St. Martin’s after four years there. She may be reached at Dreverand@earthlink.net. . . and Ben Sevier has left St. Martin’s for Touchstone Fireside, where he is be a senior editor.
In a recent article, PW refers to The Children’s Book Council (CBC)’s new Executive Director, Robin Adelson, who was a former associate general counsel at Primedia Inc. She was hired in September, following the retirement of long time Director, Paula Quint.
Lisa Dolan has been named Executive Director of Special Markets at Abrams (HNA Books). She was previously at Rodale.
Justin Loeber has launched Mouth (www.MouthPublicRelations.com) and has signed several clients, including Simply Green author Danny Seo. . . . Elizabeth Hazelton has left the publicity department of Portfolio and Sentinel to go to Doubleday. . . . HarperCollins Publishers announced Sarah Burningham has been named Associate Director of Publicity for Regan. She reports to Suzanne Wickham, Director of Publicity, and is based in New York. Burningham went to ReganMedia from Miramax Books where she was Associate Director of Publicity.
Following the sale of Trafalgar Square to IPG, Oren Silverstein, the New York rep with Proe & Proe is leaving. He may be reached at OSilver@optonline.net
PROMOTIONS
Last month Peter Olson announced that Richard Sarnoff, President of Random House’s Corporate Development Group and Random House Ventures LLC, had added responsibilities as head of Bertelsmann‘s newly established international venture capital fund, Bertelsmann Digital Media Investments. Now he’s been named President of BDMI and Ed Volini takes over as President of the Corporate Dev. Group. The New Media department will now be the responsibility of Andrew Weber, SVP, Operations and Technology.
Meanwhile, Random House Direct Marketing will become part of the Publishing Group, and VP GM Lisa Faith Phillips will report to David Naggar.
Alison Callahan has been promoted to Executive Editor at HarperCollins, effective December 1st. She has been at HarperCollins for six years
David Levithan has been promoted to Editorial Director of Scholastic Press, reporting to Ellie Berger, SVP, Publisher. Levithan also will continue to be Editorial Director for PUSH.
Weldon Owen, Inc. co-founder John Owen announced the appointment of Terry Newell as CEO and President of Weldon Owen’s US operations. Owen will remain as CEO of the Weldon Owen Group, with particular responsibilities for growth and future acquisitions. The Group was acquired in March 2006 by the Swedish Bonnier Corp.
UPCOMING EVENTS
The Association of American Publishers (AAP) and the International Digital Publishing Forum (IDPF) are hosting a seminar on Managing and Delivering Digital Assets, on November 29, 2006 from 8:00 a.m. – 12:30 p.m. at AAP, 71 Fifth Avenue, 2nd Floor, New York.
The Small Press Center’s 19th Annual Independent and Small Press Book Fair will be held December 2nd & 3rd, at the Small Press Center. 3,000 to 4,000 attendees are expected, with over 100 independent presses taking part. Go to http://www.smallpress.org, for further information.
The Brooklyn Academy of Music is gearing up for another season of “Eat, Drink and Be Literary.” Presented in partnership with the National Book Foundation, the first writer in the series is Francine Prose on January 11th. Pete Hamill follows on January 25th, and Michael Cunningham is scheduled for February 15th. Tickets include dinner and drinks. For a full listing visit The NBF www.nationalbook.org, or BAM www.bam.org.
DULY NOTED
Word is that the much anticipated Progressive Book Club is gearing to launch in early 2007, with prospective members already signing up. Stayed tuned to http://progressivebookclub.com/
In June 2006, Publishing Trends ran an article on creating a Wikipedia entry. Written by Ann Kirschner (whose book, Sala’s Gift, has just been published: www.salasgift.com), the article was then expanded into a longer piece for The Chronicle of Higher Education. The Chronicle has graciously allowed PT readers to access the article. Go to : http://chronicle.com/free/v53/i13/13b01001.htm
Italians are apparently crazy for him and this year’s Premio Grinzane Cavour Literature Award went to Joe R. Lansdale, “a horror/ mystery/ western/ Texas good ol’ boy writer,” as one observer calls him. Or as Lansdale says on his own website, (www.jrlansdale.com) “The last seven recipients were all Nobel prize award winners, so, y’know, just keep reading and see what happens!” Lansdale’s books are published by Subterranean Press.
Amazon is testing a new mobile phone service, NowNow that allows users to email queries to “live” researchers who will respond within 24 hours. Check out ask@nownow.com.
