PEOPLE ROUNDUP
As summer wanes, change remains the constant: Former Simon & Schuster President of Sales and Distribution Larry Norton has joined Borders as SVP, Merchandising and Distribution, reporting to EVP Anne Kubek. Norton will lead the merchandising team and will work out of his Connecticut home. Earlier it was announced that Dave Marsico has been named VP, Midwest at Borders. He had been Market Director at online discounter Meijer. John Melnick has been named VP, Northeast. He had been Zone VP at Michael’s Stores. Mike Steele has been named VP, West Coast. He had been Director, Store Operations.
Longtime Baker & Taylor sales executive Bill Preston, SVP for retail and international, has left the company. He may be reached at wpreston1311 [at] aol.com.
CEO of Reed Business Information USA Tad Smith has joined Cablevision as President of Local Media, a new division that will organize local media and programming assets under one business unit, reporting to COO Tom Rutledge.
Jim Joseph has officially been named President and Publisher of Globe Pequot Press after serving as interim President following the departure of Scott Watrous, and previously as COO. Lawrence Dorfman has also been promoted to VP, Sales. He was Executive Director of National Accounts. Following the departures of Michelle Lewy and John Groton last month, Gene Brissie, erstwhile EIC of Lyons Press, has returned to his own literary agency, James Peter Associates, and may be reached at gene_brissie [at] msn.com. A search has begun for an Editorial Director.Andy Ward, Executive Editor of GQ Magazine, has accepted the position of VP, Executive Editor of the Random House imprint of the Random House Publishing Group, reporting to Susan Kamil, RH Editor-in-Chief/Editorial Director of Dial.
Yulia Borodyanskaya, who left Kaplan earlier this summer, has gone to McGraw-Hill as International Rights Director in the Higher Ed division.
After a brief hiatus, Julie Bennett is rejoining Ten Speed Press as Editorial Director, reporting to Publisher Aaron Wehner. She previously worked for the publisher for nine years. Dawn Yanagihara joins the company as Senior Editor. She worked in a number of roles at Cook’s Illustrated and was most recently Senior Editor at Weldon Owen.
Lauren Weidner has been named Associate Sales Manager, Latin America/ Caribbean at Simon & Schuster. She comes from HarperCollins, where she was International Coordinator. Meanwhile, Jessica Wiener has been named Marketing Director for HarperStudio. She was with Hyperion. She replaces Sarah Burningham, who has left the company to concentrate on her writing and launch her freelance PR, marketing, and branding firm, Little Bird.
Jacqueline Murphy has been named in-house Subsidiary Rights Director at FinePrint Literary Management. She had been Executive Audio Editor at HarperCollins. Laura Wood, previously Associate Publisher of Council Oak Books, and Ward Calhoun, Senior Editor at Hylas Publishing, have also joined the agency.
Teresa Fogarty has been named a partner in the Los Angeles–based BookstoFilm.tv. Fogarty was most recently Marketing and Publicity Manager for IBPA (formerly PMA). She joins Rocky Lang, as well as the newly arrived Scott Barker.
PEN American Center, the largest branch of International PEN, announced the appointment of Steven L. Isenberg as Executive Director. For the past six years, Isenberg was a Visiting Professor of Humanities at the University of Texas (Austin). Isenberg succeeds Michael Roberts, who resigned in June after 11 years, to pursue a new career interest.
Mark Greenberg, Editor-in-Chief of Getty Publications, has left the museum, which has begun a search for his successor.
PROMOTIONS AND INTERNAL CHANGES
Kristin Fassler has been named Deputy Director, Marketing Department, Ballantine and Bantam/Dell, reporting to Sanyu Dillon. Fassler joined RH in 2004. Carolyn Schwartz has been appointed VP, Director of Ad/ Promo, reporting to Stacey Witcraft. She was Deputy Director of Creative Marketing at Bantam. Jennifer Smith will return to Ballantine as Editor, reporting to Libby McGuire. Smith began her publishing career at ICM in 2003 and came to RH in 2007 as Associate Editor.
At S&S, Tracy Nelson has been named National Account Manager for Barnes & Noble. She was responsible for selling and marketing the entire adult list to bn.com and will also continue to sell and market e-books on bn.com. Additionally, Christine Weag has been promoted to Associate National Account Manager. She joined the company in 2008. Megan Noyes has been named Manager of Digital Operations, Supply Chain at S&S. She had been Database Operations Analyst. Bill Kinneman has been named Director of Business Intelligence, Supply Chain. He had been Associate Director of Business Analysis. Veronica Lee has been named Sales Manager, International Sales. She had been Regional Associate Manager, Asia Pacific.
At Holt, Helen Atsma has been promoted to Senior Editor. She moved from Little, Brown in 2007 as an editor.
DULY NOTED
For over a decade, publishing houses have been a mainstay of Everybody Wins!, a literacy and mentoring organization. Power Lunch, EW!’s flagship program, pairs volunteers from local businesses, nonprofits, and community organizations with students in nearby public elementary schools for weekly lunchtime reading and conversation. EW! currently partners with four publishing houses: RH, McGraw-Hill, Penguin USA, and Scholastic. They are seeking new partners in publishing who can offer volunteers, book donations, in-school author events, and other language arts–related activities. Interested parties should contact Tom Schroeder: tschroeder [at] everybodywinsNY.org or (212) 965-2291.
HarperCollins is publishing invisible I, the highly anticipated first book in The Amanda Project series, at the end of September, to tie in with the just-launched website. (PW starred review here.) T.A.P. is the brainchild of Fourth Story Media’s Lisa Holton, who created the multiplatform media company after leaving Scholastic, where she was President of Trade Publishing and Book Fairs.
The search for Michael Healy’s successor as Executive Director of the Book Industry Study Group is underway. Send nominations and applications in strict confidence to search consultant Angela Henry at BISGedsearch2009 [at] gmail.com.
UPCOMING EVENTS
Kassia Krozser of Booksquare.com and agents Jenny Bent and Richard Curtis are some of the featured speakers at the annual Writers Digest conference, September 18–20 at NYC’s Marriott Marquis.
The New York Center for Independent Publishing (NYCIP) will present “The Next Chapter in Publishing” October 2 at its headquarters (20 W. 44th St.). Speakers will include Jeff Rivera of GalleyCat, Chris Kenneally from the Copyright Clearance Center, Mark Coker of Smashwords, and Fran Toolan of Netgalley.
A is for Antitrust, B is for Book, C is for Copyright, and D is for Digitize: A Conference on the Google Book Search Lawsuit will be held at New York Law School, 57 Worth St., October 8–10, 2009. Academics and practitioners will examine the settlement through the lenses of copyright, civil procedure, antitrust, the publishing industry, information policy, and literary culture. The conference is timed to coincide with the rescheduled fairness hearing in the Google Book Search case, which will be held October 7. E-mail infolaw [at] nyls.edu for more information.
The Goddard Riverside Community Center’s Gala will honor Josh Marwell, HarperCollins President of Sales, on October 26 at the Loeb Boathouse.
CLMP’s annual fundraising Spelling Bee will take place October 26 at Diane von Furstenberg’s studio. Spellers include Michael Cunningham, Jonathan Burnham, and Francine Prose.
