PEOPLE
The big news of the month-and at BEA-is that Larry Kirshbaum will become VP and Publisher of Amazon Publishing in New York, a new position many had vied for. Kirshbaum has been an agent since he left Time Warner Books as it was merged with Hachette in 2005. Amazon has had a busy month all around, with the launch (through its Audible division) of ACX (Audiobook Creation Exchange); the private sale site myhabit.com, and several new imprints including Montlake (romance) and Thomas & Mercer (mysteries and thrillers).
BISG’s Scott Lubeck has resigned to become President of a new consulting division of Bert Davis & Associates, and will partner with Davis in opening new offices, the first of which would be in Austin. Deputy Executive Director Angela Bole will fulfill the functions of the Executive Director on an interim basis. A search has begun for a new Executive Director. Scott Moyers, former Executive Editor at Penguin Press who left in 2007 to run the Wylie Agency’s New York office, has returned to Penguin as Publisher. Ann Godoff, former President and Publisher has taken the titles of President and Editor-in- Chief (the latter currently held by Eamon Dolan). Meanwhile David Rosenthal, who recently brought Aileen Boyle (his former AP from Simon & Schuster) in as Associate Publisher, has named his new imprint Blue Rider Press. Earlier this month, Former Penguin Canada Publisher David Davidar and Rupa Publications India, a leading Indian publisher and distributor, announced a partnership to start a new literary publishing firm, the Aleph Book Company. Aleph will be head-quartered in New Delhi.
Rich Freese, who announced his resignation as President of National Book Network (NBN), has assumed the position of President and CEO at Recorded Books, replacing former President Scott Williams.
Interweave announced that Carla Graubard has been hired as VP and Publisher of its Fiber Division as of June 30. Graubard replaces John Bolton, who was promoted earlier this year as SVP. Graubard was a founding principal of Quantum Media.
Chris Schluep has been named Senior Editor, Amazon.com Books. He was a senior editor with Ballantine/Del Rey.
Jennifer Hunt has joined Penguin Children’s Dial Books as VP of Acquisition and Development, and Editor-at-Large, reporting to Lauri Hornik. Hunt was most recently Editorial Director at Little, Brown Children’s. Samantha Dell’Olio, recently a senior publicist at Penguin Children’s, has joined Nissen
Public Relations as Publicity Manager.
Associate Publisher, Sales & Marketing Director Sabrina Farber, has left Bloomsbury in a reorganization. Diana Blough, who held the same title in children’s, has also left. In their stead, Christina Gilbert, most recently at HarperCollins, has been hired as Executive Director of US Marketing for adult and children’s. Deb Shapiro, former Director of Publicity and Online Marketing has launched
Deb Shapiro & Company, a PR/marketing company for authors and books.
As of May 16, Elizabeth Van Doren
is Executive Editor, Book Publishing at Highlights for Children and Boyds Mills Press, where she will report to Mary-Alice Moore, VP and Editorial Director.
Laurie Corbi has been named VP, Director of Sales and Marketing for Jessica Kingsley Publishers. She was Director of Sales and Marketing at the Jewish Publication Society.
PublishersLunch reported that Chris Lotts and Christopher Schelling have left Ralph Vicinanza Ltd to open new agencies: The Lotts Agency and Schelling’s new firm, Selectric Artists.
Scholastic SVP and Chief Accounting Officer, John Giraldo, will leave the company on June 1. EVP and CFO Maureen O’Connell will take on Giraldo’s duties until a replacement is found.
Emily Santos, formerly VP of Global Sales at Simon & Schuster’s video group has been appointed to the new position of VP Gift Market Sales at Penguin, reporting to Barbara O’Shea, President of nontrade
sales and special markets.
PROMOTIONS AND INTERNAL CHANGES
Random House has announced that it has created a digital channel and marketing development department within the corporate digital group, under Madeline McIntosh. Amanda Close will head the
new department as VP, Digital Channel and Marketing Development; Pete McCarthy will be VP, Director, Marketing Innovation; Chelsea Vaughn becomes VP, Director, Marketing Ops, and Christine
McNamara is VP, Director, Digital Channel Development. Jeff Weber has been promoted to Director, Online Digital Sales. Candace Chaplin moves up to VP and Director of Sales and Marketing, nonfiction brands, a newly created position. Jessica Sindler has been promoted to editor at Gotham, where she has
worked since 2003. Allison McLean has been promoted to Publicity Director for Portfolio, Sentinel and Current. Caitlyn Dlouhy has been promoted from Editorial Director to VP, Editorial Director of Atheneum Books for Young Readers. Lydia Finn has been promoted from publicity assistant to associate publicist at S&S Children’s.
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Bowker has just released two major reports: At BEA, PubTrack looked at ebook
buyers, and found that 18% of buyers represent 61% of purchasing dollars, with
80% owning dedicated ereaders. Amazon dominates, with 65% of the ebook
market, though Kindles account for only 41%. Overall, women now comprise 66%
of the ebook market, buying mostly fiction. The #1 wish ebook buyers express
is being able to “give or lend ebook when you’re done with it.”
Meanwhile, Bowker’s Books in Print released their annual report on U.S. print book publishing, compiled from its database. It projects that despite the popularity of ebooks, traditional U.S. print title
output in 2010 increased 5%. The nontraditional sector continues its growth, increasing 169% from 1,033,065 in 2009 to 2,776,260 in 2010. These books, almost exclusively marketed online, are largely on-demand titles from reprint houses specializing in public domain works, self-publishers, and ”micro-niche” publications. More than 2.6 million of these titles come from BiblioBazaar, General Books and Kessinger.
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Publisher Sharyn Rosart announced that Quirk Packaging is now powerHouse Packaging & Supply, a division of powerHouse Cultural Entertainment. Rosart may be reached at sharyn@power-
HousePackaging.com
UPCOMING EVENTS
Poets House is holding its 16th annual Poetry Walk Benefit across the Brooklyn
Bridge on Monday, June 13th at 6.30pm. All proceeds benefit Poets House. www.poetshouse.org
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An annual award for young book editors in honor of the late editor Larry Ashmead has been created by his friends and colleagues. The award will go to one editor with “approximately four years’ experience” nominated by an “established” publisher or editor. The award covers the tuition and costs for a “recognized publishing educational venue” and provides “access to a distinguished advisory committee of prominent
editors,” according to a press release. This year’s Ashmead Award winner will attend the Yale Publishing Course, held in late July in New Haven, Con. Submission information online at www.theashmeadaward.com. Applications are due June 15.
