People
Steve Wasserman has joined Yale University Press as Executive Editor-at-Large, General Interest books. He remains with Kneerim & Williams as a literary agent. He was previously Literary Editor of the LA Times and Editorial Director of Times Books.
Literary agent David Hale Smith has joined Inkwell Management, bringing his own list with him. He remains located in Dallas.
Random House VP Online Sales Director for Books, Ebooks and Digital Audio, Al Greco, writes, “I have decided to leave Random House in order to accept the position of SVP of Sales for Carson-Dellosa.”
Claire von Schilling, who has been VP, Corporate Communications at Sony Music Entertainment, has joined Random House as SVP, Corporate Communications, reporting to Stuart Applebaum. She had worked earlier at Bertelsmann in Corporate Communications. And Justine Trubey rejoins Random House as SVP, Technology and Operations. She was most recently at Amazon.com, and before that was Executive Director, Operations, Random House Audio. In addition, Nihar Malaviya has been named VP Strategy, Analytics & Program Development.
Andrew Stanley has gone to Thames & Hudson UK as Deputy Director Sales & Marketing. He was most recently a consultant for Random House UK and previously VP, Director of Special Markets & Proprietary Publishing at Random House.
Greg Britton will join Johns Hopkins University Press as Editorial Director on May 16. Previously he led the Getty Museum’s publishing program. He replaces Trevor Lipscombe, who was the Press’s Editor-in-Chief before moving to the Catholic University of America Press last fall.
David Rosenthal has hired Aileen Boyle as Associate Publisher for his new imprint at Penguin, starting July 1. She worked for him at Simon & Schuster in the same position, and will coordinate sales, marketing, and publicity.
Executive Editor Randy Ladenheim-Gil and Senior Editor Paul Dinas have left Penguin’s Alpha Books, in the wake of the company’s consolidation and closing of its editorial offices. Karyn Gerhard remains in NYC acquiring for its website.
Kelly Fischbach has joined Barnes & Noble as Director, Digital Education Content for BN.com (NookStudy). She was Director, Content Product Management at Kno.
Rich Freese has left National Book Network, where he had been President since 2009. This was Freese’s second stint at NBN. He will announce his plans shortly.
Judy Courtade is moving to Perseus Distribution as Associate Director, Client Services. She was Sales Director at Black Dog & Leventhal.
Phil Budnick has been named Editorial Director of Plume. He spent the past ten years as a National Account Sales Manager for Penguin. He succeeds Cherise Fisher.
Jeanette Seaver has joined the staff of Skyhorse Publishing as a consulting editor. She was most recently at Arcade (recently acquired by Skyhorse), which she co-founded with her late husband, Richard Seaver.
Alyse Diamond has joined OpenSky as a talent business executive. Previously she was an editor at St. Martin’s.
Former SVP, Merchandising Larry Norton has joined former Borders exec Anne Kubek at INscribe, where she is General Manager. Norton was previously President of Sales & Distribution at Simon & Schuster.
Literary agent Alexandra Machinist has left Linda Chester Literary Agency to join Janklow & Nesbit.
Stefanie Rosenblum is leaving the publicity department at Workman to become a publicist at Planned Television Arts.
Katy Hershberger has joined Bloomsbury and Walker Books for Young Readers as Publicity Manager. She was a Senior Publicist at St. Martin’s.
Alloy Entertainment has hired TV executive Michael Ross as its COO, overseeing business affairs across all divisions, including publishing.
DK Publishing Managing Director John Roberts has retired, after more than 10 years at the company.
Douglas Amrine has been named Editorial Director at Editions Didier Millet in Singapore. He will be moving there from London in June. He was Publisher of DK’s Eyewitness and Travel Guides.
PROMOTIONS AND INTERNAL CHANGES
Hachette has launched another faith-based imprint, Jericho, in its Nashville Division. Wendy Grisham is VP, Publisher, reporting to SVP Rolf Zettersten.
Scott Shannon has been named to the newly created position of SVP, Publisher, Digital Content for Little Random. He was most recently publisher of Ballantine Bantam Dell Mass Market. Libby McGuire, SVP, Ballantine Bantam Dell, now assumes direct responsibility for Random’s mass market paperback list, but Shannon remains Publisher of Del Rey/Spectra.
At Crown, Christine Edwards has been promoted to VP, Group Sales Director. Sarah Brievogel moves up to Assistant Director of Publicity, Dyana Messina is now Senior Publicist, and Julie Cepler becomes Associate Marketing Director. At Crown Archetype, Sean Boyles is Associate Publicist, and Jennifer Robbins moves up to Marketing Manager. On the illustrated books team, Allison Malec is now Marketing Manager.
At Potter Craft, Betty Wong has been promoted to Senior Editor, now reporting to Editorial Director Victoria Craven, with Assistant Editor Caitlin Harpin reporting to Wong.
Adam Rothberg has been promoted to SVP, Corporate Communications at Simon & Schuster. He had been VP, Corporate Communications since 1999.
At Simon & Schuster Children’s, Anna McKean has been promoted to Publicity Manager. Andrea Welch has been promoted from Editor to Senior Editor, Beach Lane. Kimberly Boyer has been promoted from Assistant Editor to Associate Editor of Little Simon.
Free Press VP, EIC Dominick Anfuso announced that Leah Miller has been promoted to Editor, and both Maura O’Brien and Sydney Tanigawa to Assistant Editor. Touchstone Publisher Stacy Creamer announced that Lauren Spiegel has been promoted to Editor….Ed Schlesinger has been promoted to Senior Editor at Gallery/Pocket. Also at Gallery, Kate Dresser and Emilia Pisanihas have both been promoted to Assistant Editor.
Amanda Walker has been promoted to Associate Director of Publicity at Dutton. . . . At NAL, Brent Howard has been promoted to Senior Editor and Jesse Feldman to Assistant Editor. . . . At Berkley, Michelle Vega has been promoted to Editor.
Mark Schoenwald, President and COO at Thomas Nelson, has been named President and CEO. Michael Hyatt, whom he succeeds, is stepping out of active management of the company but will continue to serve as Chairman of the Board.
Andrews McMeel book division VP Christine Schillig will take on the role of Executive Editor. The company is recruiting for the new position of VP, Executive Producer, reporting to book division president Kirsty Melville.
Chronicle Publishing Director Sarah Malarkey has taken on the new role of Executive Editorial Director, leading the adult trade editorial staff and pop culture and humor titles.
Selina Meere has become Executive Director of the Workman publicity department. Courtney Greenhalgh joins the company as Associate Director of Publicity (she was a publicity manager at Crown), and Jillian Ceravolo has been promoted to Associate Publicist.
Duly Noted
The magazine/online publishing session of the Yale Publishing Course takes place July 10–15. The print/ebook session is July 24–29.
UPCOMING EVENTS
IBPA Publishing University takes place in NYC May 22–23 and includes an “Everything Google” session. The keynote speaker is Skip Prichard, President and CEO of Ingram Content Group.
As part of the increasingly global face of BEA, Mike Shatzkin and Michael Cader turn the attention of their inaugural Publishers Launch Conferences event to the international digital stage. Highlights of “Ebooks Go Global,” at BEA on May 25, include:
- Lessons learned from US publishers, technologists, and booksellers who were on the front lines when ebooks started to explode in the US. Wiley’s Peter Balis and Random House’s Nina von Moltke, along with others, will discuss, as will ebook-author-gone-rogue Barry Eisler.
- Polyglot distribution: Professionals from Ingram, Overdrive, Kobo, and BN.com discuss the international market for Anglophone literature and calls for non-English language ebooks for US markets.
- Tackling what’s next: Agents, publishers, and experts from the Copyright Clearance Center confront issues of rights and licensing models. There will be a discussion of how to determine when and if enhanced ebooks are a viable option. A panel led by Market Partners International’s Lorraine Shanley, with participation from Perseus COO Joe Mangan and Charlie Redmayne, Head of Digital for HarperCollins Worldwide, will explore the new skill-sets that new media demand.
In Memoriam
A tribute to Owen Laster will take place on Thursday, May 19 at the New York Society for Ethical Culture (2 W. 64th St., NYC) at 5:30 PM, with a reception immediately following. Please RSVP here. Donations in Owen’s memory may be made to GMHC or the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center.
