PEOPLE
There are so many changes to report this month that we are highlighting only some of the moves and, where available, contact information. Rebecca (Becky) Saletan has been appointed Editorial Director of Riverhead, reporting to Publisher Geoff Kloske. She was most recently SVP and Publisher of Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. Her appointment is effective March 2; meanwhile, she is reachable at rebecca dot saletan at earthlink dot net.
Jon Anderson, President and Publisher of Running Press, has joined Simon & Schuster as EVP and Publisher of S&S Children’s Publishing, reporting to S&S CEO Carolyn Reidy.
There have been ongoing reorganizations at Random House, Knopf, and Crown. Janice Goldklang, Publisher of Pantheon, was let go after 30 years and may be reached at janicegoldklang at gmail dot com. Jack Perry was laid off from Random, where he was Director of Sales Marketing, and may be reached at jackperry38 at hotmail dot com. According to the New York Observer, four editors were also laid off: Random House’s Modern Library editor Judy Sternlight, Villard’s Bruce Tracy, Ballantine’s West Coast–based Anika Streitfeld, and Liz Scheier. Longtime Bantam Dell Business Manager John de Beaumont and Paul Kozlowski, former VP Director Sales Marketing Random Adult, have left and Paul may be reached at pekoz at mac dot com. Judy Pray has left Clarkson Potter after one year and can be reached at jpray24 at gmail dot com. She was previously with Black Dog & Leventhal. Meanwhile, Sharon Swados, who was VP Director of Sub Rights at Bantam Dell and was laid off in December, may be reached at szswados at yahoo dot com.
Joe Monti, former Director of Paperbacks at Hachette, has left the company. He may be reached at [e-mail info at publishingtrends dot com for number].
Steve Black has left Oxmoor House’s New York office, where he was Director of Sales. He joined Oxmoor in June 2008.
Editor-in-Chief Sara Nelson has been laid off from Publishers Weekly and may be reached at snwriter at aol dot com or [e-mail info at publishingtrends dot com for number]. Executive Editor Daisy Maryles has also left and may be reached at daisymaryles at yahoo dot com. Bookselling editor Kevin Howell and Director of Business Development Rachel Dicker are also departing. School Library Journal editor-in-chief Brian Kenney was named to the new position of Editorial Director for the group, comprising SLJ, Library Journal, and PW.
Nicole Dewey has been named Director of Publicity at Holt. She was Associate Director of Publicity at
Doubleday and replaces Claire McKinney, who left in December.
Karyn Gerhard has joined Penguin as Senior Acquisitions Editor for the Alpha imprint, formerly a division of Pearson Education. She was at Bulfinch. Meanwhile, Vanessa Mobley, Senior Editor at the Penguin Press, has left the company. She may be reached at vanessamobley at gmail dot com.
Barnes & Noble terminated about 100 people, including Steve Magnusson and Editorial Director of Union Square Press Philip Turner, who may be reached at philipsturner at gmail dot com or [e-mail info at publishingtrends dot com for number]. Meanwhile, BarnesandNoble.com, which has been operating without a CEO since Marie Toulantis left in August, has hired a President, Bill Lynch. From 2004 to 2008, he was CEO and co-founder of gifts.com.
At Chronicle, Debra Lande, Business Development Director, has been laid off. She may be reached at landedebra at gmail dot com.
At Workman, Glenn D’Agnes has been named Chief Administrative Officer. He was COO of HarperCollins. Melissa Possick has been named Marketing Director. Amy Corley has moved back to Artisan as Publicity Director.
Angus Killick, who was School and Library Marketing Director at Disney Publishing Worldwide, has joined Macmillan’s Kingfisher as Associate Publisher, a new position, reporting to UK Publishing Director Martina Challis. Killick takes control of all US publishing, marketing, and sales and is based in New York.
Vivian Chum has joined Prospect Agency as an agent.
Lonely Planet has appointed Matthew Goldberg as CEO as of March, reporting to BBC Worldwide Managing Director of Global Brands Marcus Arthur and based in Melbourne, Australia. He was SVP, Digital Strategy & Ops at Dow Jones, where he led business operations at the Wall Street Journal Digital Network.
Steven Sayre has resigned from Ingram. He has joined medical publisher IARS in San Francisco to run its print/online content programs.
Lindley Boegehold has joined Abrams as Director of Custom, Proprietary, and Calendar Publishing. She has been consulting at Abrams, following her departure from Random Media.
Shardul Kothari has left HMH Publishing, where he was VP, Sales in the International Division. He may be reached at shardul at netvigator dot com.
PROMOTIONS AND INTERNAL CHANGES
Wendy Sheanin has been promoted to Director of Marketing, Adult at S&S.
John R. Ingram, Chairman of the Ingram Content companies, announced that James Gray has been named Chief Strategy Officer for the Content Group. Gray was most recently the President and CEO of Ingram Digital. Mike Lovett, the former CEO of Ingram Book Group and most recently SVP of Ingram Digital, is the new CEO of Ingram Digital.
Sterling has promoted Sharmilla Sinanan to the newly created position of Senior Manager, Marketing Services (formerly the ad/promo department). Simone Gibbs was promoted to the position of Marketing Coordinator.
At Trident Media Group, Alanna Ramirez has been promoted to agent. She was audio rights agent and special assistant to Robert Gottlieb. Elizabeth Kellogg has been promoted to audio rights agent.
Cindy Eagan has been named Executive Editorial Director for the Poppy imprint at Little, Brown Children’s.
Christina Amini and Steve Mockus have both been named Senior Editor at Chronicle.
DULY NOTED
comScore reported that the total global Internet audience (age 15 and older, from home and work computers) surpassed one billion visitors in December 2008. The Asia-Pacific region accounted for the highest share of global Internet users, at 41%, followed by Europe (28% share), North America (18%), Latin America (7%), and the Middle East and Africa (5%). China represented the largest online audience from one country, with 180 million Internet users, representing nearly 18% of the total worldwide Internet audience.
Booksonline, parent company to over 20 of North America’s leading book clubs including Book-of-the-Month Club, Black Expressions, The Good Cook, and Mystery Guild, has dropped the controversial “Negative Option” method from its business practice. On January 7, all book clubs belonging to the Booksonline family switched to the new operational policy.
IN MEMORIAM
Arcade Publishing Founder and Publisher Dick Seaver’s memorial service will take place Thursday, February 12, at 5 PM at All Souls Unitarian Church (1157 Lexington Ave., between 79th and 80th Sts).
A memorial service for critic, editor, and novelist John Leonard will be held on Monday, March 2 at 6 PM at Landmark on the Park (160 Central Park West). Along with family members, Gloria Steinem, Toni Morrison, and Victor Navasky are among the participants.
