PEOPLE
Hachette Book Group has hired Kenneth Michaels as Chief Operating Officer. He succeeds Beth Ford, who left in September, and will join the company on January 5. He was most recently SVP of Global Business Process Management for the McGraw-Hill Companies.
Marie Coolman will join Hyperion as Executive Director of Publicity, taking over the position recently vacated by Beth Gebhard, who left to relocate to LA to work for the new Oprah Winfrey Network. Coolman had been Director of Publicity and Marketing for Hudson Street Press, and was previously West Coast Director of Publicity at Random House….Tina Andreadis announced that Kate Blum joins HarperCollins Publicity as Associate Director. She spent her eight-year career at Random House….Samantha Choy joins the Crown publicity department as Senior Publicist. She comes from W. W. Norton.
Lots of changes internationally: Quercus CEO Mark Smith announced that Anthony Cheetham has relinquished his role as Executive Chairman after two years, becoming Non-Executive Chairman immediately. The announcement comes in the wake of former Macmillan MD David North’s appointment as Managing Director….Michael Moynahan has been named HarperCollins’s new CEO for Australia and New Zealand. Moynahan was MD, Random House India, and chairman, Random House New Zealand.
Webster Younce has joined Henry Holt as a Senior Editor, reporting to Editor-in-Chief Marjorie Braman. He was most recently Senior Editor at Houghton Mifflin.
In children’s books: Corinne Helman will become VP of Digital Publishing and Business Development for HarperCollins Children’s Books. She was most recently VP Business Development at Scholastic. Sarah Shumway has joined the Katherine Tegen Books imprint at Harper Children’s as Senior Editor, acquiring primarily middle-grade and YA fiction. She had been at Dutton Children’s….Namrata Tripathi will join Atheneum Children’s as Executive Editor. She was most recently Senior Editor at Hyperion Children’s. Additionally, Associate Editor Lisa Cheng will move from Margaret K. McEldery to Atheneum, reporting to Tripathi….Greg Ferguson, formerly of HarperCollins Children’s Books, will join Egmont USA as Editor, reporting to Publisher Elizabeth Law. Nico Medina joined as Managing Editor. Most recently, he was Production Editor at Viking Children’s and Puffin.
Camille March has been appointed to the position of Editor at Black Dog & Leventhal, reporting to Elizabeth Van Doren. Most recently, March was at Weinstein Books as Associate Director of Publicity.
Carrie Thornton will move to Dutton on December 1 as Executive Editor. She was most recently Publishing Manager and Senior Editor at Crown/Three Rivers Press….Don Weise has been named Publisher of Alyson Books. He had been Senior Editor at Carroll & Graf….Matt Weiland has joined Ecco as a Senior Editor. He has been Deputy Editor of The Paris Review for the past two years and is the co-author of State by State (Ecco).
Langenscheidt has named Nel Yomtov as Executive Editor of Hammond, reporting to Langenscheidt’s chief Sales and Marketing officer Michele Martin. Most recently, he was Editorial Director at the Rosen Publishing Group. He will also work on a new series for Langenscheidt.
Amanda Tobier has joined Little, Brown as Marketing Manager. She was most recently marketing director for Avery and Viking Studio.
Among the recent Rodale layoffs was Andrew R. Malkin, VP, Trade Book Sales. He may be reached at armalkin [at] gmail.com.
Bookspan parent company Direct Brands announced that Senior Director of Communications Paula Batson has left the company to pursue other opportunities. She will continue to consult for them. Melinda Meals has taken her place.
Michael Schluter has been named Senior Director of Sales at Palgrave Macmillan. He was previously Director of Library Sales at Sage.
Laura Ross has joined Jill Grinberg Literary Management. Jenny Rappaport is leaving the L. Perkins Agency to start the Rappaport Agency. Lori Perkins will continue with her agency and has promoted Marsha Philitas to senior agent.
Betty Wong has been hired as an editor at Clarkson Potter’s Potter Craft. She was at Melcher Media.
PROMOTIONS AND INTERNAL CHANGES
Kim Hovey was named Associate Publisher of Random House Trade Paperbacks, reporting to Jane Von Mehren and continuing to report to Libby McGuire, Associate Publisher of Ballantine. Sanyu Dillon, as Director of Marketing, will now oversee the marketing/advertising/promotion efforts and staff for RHPG, continuing to report to Tom Perry, Deputy Publisher.
Elda Rotor has been promoted to Editorial Director at Penguin Classics. Rotor arrived at Penguin in 2006 from Oxford University Press.
Philip Patrick announced that Jay Sones has moved from Crown to Three Rivers Press as Marketing Manager, reporting to Donna Passannante. Kira Walton has been named Associate Marketing Director for Harmony and Shaye Areheart Books. Vicki Tomao has been named Advertising and Promotion Manager. She started as Patrick’s assistant in 2004. Jennifer Reierson has been named Senior Designer. She joined the company in 2000. Sarah Breivogel has been named Publicity Manager for Shaye Areheart Books and Selina Cicogna has been named Publicity Manager for Clarkson Potter.
Kevin Callahan has been promoted to Associate Director of Marketing at HarperCollins.
Michelle Brower has been promoted to Agent at Wendy Sherman Associates.
DULY NOTED
Nielsen BookScan announced that beginning in the first week of 2009, Hudson Group will join BookScan’s reporting panel. Hudson Group will report sales from their Hudson News and Hudson Booksellers locations in airports and train and bus terminals. Sales data will appear under the “retail” store strata.
UPCOMING EVENTS
The 21st Annual Independent and Small Press Book Fair will take place at their headquarters on 20 W. 44th Street, New York, NY on December 6 from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. and December 7 from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. For more information, go to http://www.nycip.org/bookfair.
Two NBCC events in 2009: On January 24 at 7 p.m. at the Housing Works Bookstore Café, announcers Sam Anderson (winner of the 2007 Balakian Award), Bill Henderson of Pushcart Press, Mary Jo Bang (winner of the 2007 Poetry award), Harriet Washington (winner of the 2007 nonfiction award), Alex Ross (winner of the 2007 criticism award), and others will announce the NBCC Awards finalists. The event will be hosted by NBCC President Jane Ciabattari. The night before, also at Housing Works, there will be a Poetry in Translation panel, “Has the U.S. Lost Touch with World Literature?” For more information, go to www.bookcritics.org.
The 4th Annual San Miguel de Allende, Mexico, Writers’ Conference & Literary Festival takes place from February 20 to 22, 2009. For more information, go to www.sanmiguelauthors.com and www.sanmiguelworkshops.com.
The American Book Producers Association BookBuilding 2.0 seminar has been rescheduled for March 10, 2009 from 9 a.m. 6 p.m. at The Players. The morning session will focus on the essentials of developing and producing books, and the afternoon will feature two panels: “The Internet and Electronic Publishing,” moderated by Carolyn Pittis of HarperCollins, and “What’s Next?: Trends in Publishing,” moderated by Barbara Marcus of Penguin Young Readers Group. For more information, e-mail office at abpaonline dot org.
JUST FOR FUN
Webster’s New World® College Dictionary announced the top five candidates for the 2008 “Word of the Year,” which will be selected by editors and researchers at Webster’s and announced during a national radio satellite tour on December 1. The top candidates are overshare, leisure sickness, cyberchondriac, selective ignorance, and youthanasia. Vote at www.newworldword.com.
