PEOPLE ROUNDUP
Crown Publishing Group President and Publisher Jenny Frost announced the appointment of Diane Salvatore, who was most recently Editor-in-Chief of Ladies’ Home Journal, as VP, Publisher of Broadway Books, a new position following the realigning of Broadway and Doubleday within the Random House Group.
Margaret Milnes, VP, Licensed Publishing, Nickelodeon, has resigned after 10 years with the company. Paula Allen, formerly Warner Brothers Consumer Products and Screenland Associates, has joined Nick as SVP, Global Publishing. She will report to Leigh Ann Brodsky, President, Nickelodeon and Viacom Consumer Products.
Josalyn Moran, VP, Director, Children’s Books, Barnes & Noble, has been named Publishing Director at Chronicle, succeeding Bill Boedeker, who left late last year.
Betsy Hulsebosch, former VP of Random House, and Ronni Stolzenberg, former VP of RH and HarperCollins, announce the creation of their new book marketing business, Launchpad, which will provide internet, social networking, publicity, advertising, and promotion solutions. E-mail Hulsebosch at betsy [at] launchpad360.com and Stolzenberg at ronni [at] launchpad360.com.
Scholastic eliminated another 11 positions last week in its Trade and Klutz divisions. Among those leaving in the downsizing were Margaret Coffee, Director of Field Sales, and Grace Maccarone, an editor who had been with the company for 30 years.
Angela Battle has joined LearningExpress as Director of Book Products. Most recently, she was a Senior Sales Specialist at Pearson Education. She will oversee all aspects of the book program, including acquisitions of new titles and book channel expansion by working directly with NBN, LearningExpress’s book distributor. She reports to Ilsa Halpern. Karen Wolny, Editorial Director of LearningExpress, has left the company and may be reached at kawolny [at] hotmail.com.
Simon & Schuster imprint Howard Books announced that Becky Nesbitt will join the company as VP and EIC. She was Associate Publisher for Tyndale House’s nonfiction line. Jennifer Willingham has joined the company as Vice President, Publicity. She comes from Guideposts.
Ingram has merged its Digital, Books, and Lightning Source groups into Ingram Content under CEO and President, Skip Prichard, and the Espresso Book Machine will now be available to all Lightning Source customers. Frank Daniels, Chief Commercial Officer of Ingram Digital, will leave the company in July.
At Yale University Press, longtime Associate Director and Publishing Director Tina Weiner is leaving that position to become Special Assistant to the Secretary of Yale, working in the Office of International Affairs.
At Borders, VP of Corporate Communications Anne Roman is joining a marketing firm in Toledo. She will continue to work for Borders on a consulting basis, and will remain the primary “media contact.” In other Borders news, Scott Laverty has been appointed CIO. He was most recently associated with IBM.
Barb Burg, former SVP and Executive Director of Publicity and Public Relations at the Bantam Dell Publishing Group, has launched a new company, barb burg, ink, offering publicity, public relations, media training, media placement, publishing strategy, and brand management services. She may be reached at barb [at] barbburg.com.
Marty McGrath has been hired by Abrams in the newly created position of Executive Director of Sales, reporting to Mary Wowk, VP of Sales and Marketing. Most recently, he was VP, Deputy Director of Adult Sales at Random House.
Nancy Miller has joined Bloomsbury/Walker as a Consulting Editor, acquiring both nonfiction and fiction. Most recently, she had been Executive Editor at Collins.
Anna Stein has left Irene Skolnick’s agency to open the New York office of London-based Aitken Alexander.
Jacqueline Flynn has joined Joelle Delbourgo Associates as an agent. She was formerly Executive Editor at Amacom Books. Carrie Cantor is heading up the agency’s new editorial services division, and may be reached at cantor.carrie [at] gmail.com.
At Little, Brown Children’s, Diane Cain has been hired for the newly created position of Brand Marketing Director, James Patterson, reporting to Deputy Publisher Andrew Smith. She was most recently Executive Director of Marketing at Harper Children’s.
Zagat Survey laid off 16 employees in a variety of departments on May 20. The company previously cut 20 employees in December 2008.
PROMOTIONS AND INTERNAL CHANGES
HarperCollins UK MD Amanda Ridout will leave the company at the end of June to “pursue other ventures.” Following Ridout’s notice, CEO and Publisher Victoria Barnsley said the roles of MD of HarperCollins, MD of HarperFiction, and MD of Harper NonFiction/Collins will be phased out. Belinda Budge will be promoted to the new role of Publisher of HarperCollins UK, reporting to Barnsley. Budge will oversee all publishing for HarperFiction and NonFiction/Collins. Simon Johnson, currently Director of Business Development, will become Group Commercial and Business Development Director, reporting to Barnsley and COO Keith Mullock. BookBrunch notes that Patrick Janson-Smith has “an enhanced role.”
Ken Oxenreider, Simon & Schuster VP Audio Sales, will join the Audio Division June 1, reporting to Audio EVP and Publisher Chris Lynch. He will assume responsibility for the company’s Audible, iTunes, Overdrive, and E-Music accounts and will continue to work with sales for major account presentations. He remains the sales point of contact for distribution clients.
Phoenix Publishing is launching a children’s trade line under its Dove imprint, and Gray Peterson, VP of Sales/Marketing, will now add Associate Publisher, Children’s Books to his responsibilities. He was formerly VP Sales, Mass Market at Scholastic.
Claudia Boutote announced that Laina Adler has been promoted to Director of Marketing at HarperOne.
At Crown Business, Publicity Director Tara Bilbride will serve as Publicity Director of Broadway Business. Liz Hazelton is leaving the company to join Fortier Public Relations.
At Simon & Schuster, Alexis Welby has been promoted to Associate Director of Publicity, and Julia Prosser has been promoted to Senior Publicity Manager.
Ten Speed Press acting Publisher Aaron Wehner has been formally named to the job, reporting to Crown Publishing Group President Jenny Frost. Wehner joined Ten Speed in 1997.
DULY NOTED
Ingram Marketing Group announced the results of an industry survey on e- vs. print catalogs. Over 49% of respondents, a “tremendous increase” over last year, are willing to use e-catalogs in place of print, as long as they include features like a shopping list function and point-of-sale download capabilities. About 60% of respondents have already used an e-catalog. Over 80% of the 2,500 survey participants were either librarians or independent booksellers.
The Hay House New York office has moved. Its new address is 250 Park Avenue South, Suite 201, New York, NY 10003. E-mail addresses will stay the same, but phone numbers have changed: Phone: (646) 484-4950, fax: (646)484-4956.
The Kids Licensing Forum, which ran for one day following the Bologna Children’s Book Fair this year, is expanding to a full three-day event in 2010, concurrent with the Book Fair from March 23–25.
UPCOMING EVENTS
There will be a memorial service for Eden Ross Lipson on June 13 at 1:30 at The Century Club, 7 W. 43rd Street, New York, NY. To leave a condolence note in the guestbook, go here.
IN MEMORIAM
Craig Virden, former head of Random House Children’s Books and most recently a literary agent with his wife, Nancy Gallt, died on May 6. His memorial service took place on May 27 at St. Peter’s Church.
