PEOPLE
The Weinstein Company and The Perseus Books Group announced a new publishing duo to lead their Weinstein Books co-publishing venture — Georgina Levitt as Publishing Director and Amanda Murray. Levitt was previously Associate Publisher of Vanguard Press and Murray was mostly recently Senior Editor at S&S.
HarperCollins announced that Angela Tribelli has been appointed to the newly created position of Chief Marketing Officer, General Books Group. Tribelli, who comes from NYC & Company, will report to Michael Morrison, President & Publisher. Her first day is February 22.
The J. Paul Getty Trust has hired Kara Kirk as Publisher of Getty Publications, effective April 13. Kirk most recently served as Associate Publisher at MoMA in New York. Prior to that, she had been the Getty’s General Manager of Publications.
Callaway Digital Arts, Inc. developer of interactive mobile applications for children and families, has expanded its management team, including Lisa Holton, who has been named Vice President of Content Development. Holton’s most recent executive post was as President for Scholastic Trade Publishing, where she managed the publication of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows by J.K. Rowling. CDA will buy some projects from Fourth Story Media (FSM) and Holton will continue to work on some projects initiated while at FSM.
Meanwhile, Robie Rogge has resigned from The Met Museum, where she was most recently Publishing Manager. She has been at The Met since 1970. Her last day is Feb. 29., and she will then set up her own book production company.
Steve Kasdin has joined Curtis Brown, Ltd as Director of Digital Strategy to supervise its e-book program. Previously, Kasdin worked as Senior Kindle Evangelist, and before that, with the Sandra Dijkstra Agency.
Ileene Smith will join Farrar, Straus and Giroux as VP and Executive Editor on February 15. She had been Executive Editor at large for general interest books for Yale University Press since 2005. Joy Peskin has been named VP, Editorial Director of FSG Children’s, reporting to Simon Boughton. Previously, she was Associate Publisher at Viking Books for Young Readers.
John Mahaney, long time Executive Editor at Crown Business, has joined Public Affairs as a Contributing Editor, focusing on acquiring economics, finance and business books. Crown announced that Amanda Cook has been hired by Crown as VP and Executive Editor. She was Executive Editor at Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. Cook will continue to be based in Boston.
Corinna Barsan has been named a new Senior Editor at Grove/Atlantic Books. She was previously Senior Editor at Other Press, where she worked since 2006. Grove Editor Amy Hundley has also been promoted to Senior Editor and Rights Director.
Emily Williams has joined B&N as International Content Manager, Digital Products, reporting to Patricia Arancibia, Director, Editorial & Publisher Relations for International Content. Williams was most recently Digital Content Producer for Publishers Marketplace. She may be reached at ewilliams@book.com.
William Kiester, Publisher of Fair Winds Press, is leaving after five good years to pursue a new venture, Page Street Publishing Company. He can be reached at williamkiester@gmail.com.
Carrie Thornton has joined HarperCollins as Executive Editor, It Books. Previously she was Executive Editor at Dutton.
Kate Folkers has joined Perseus Group Worldwide as Senior Marketing and Client Services Manager, reporting to Chitra Bopardikar, VP of International Sales.
Tim Ditlow, who joined Brilliance Audio in 2008, has moved over to Amazon Publishing Children’s Group as Associate Publisher for the Marshall Cavendish Children’s Books. He replaces Brian Buerkle who has gone to Kingfisher.
Earlier in the month Dan Farley, most recently President of Macmillan’s Children’s Publishing Group, was named Executive VP of Business Development for Swoop That LLC, a San Diego-based company with course search technology for college students to find the cheapest prices for textbooks.
Open Road announced that Betsy Mitchell will work as Strategic Advisor for sci-fi and fantasy, and will “spearhead” their acquisition and publishing of backlist sci-fi and fantasy titles. Mitchell retired from her position as Editor-in-Chief at Del Rey Spectra in December.
Susanne Woods will join Interweave Books as Editorial Director at the end of the month, overseeing the book group’s editorial and design teams and leading the strategic and creative.
Nicole Judge has joined Free Press in the new position of Marketing Director, overseeing direct-to-consumer marketing efforts. She has been at HarperCollins for the past 7 years, most recently as Associate Director of Marketing for Harper and Harper Business.
Brett Sandusky has joined Macmillan New Ventures as Product Manager. He was most recently Director of Product Innovation at Kaplan.
Lindsay Guzzardo recently joined Amazon Publishing’s romance imprint, Montlake, as an Associate Acquisitions Editor. Previously she worked at Guideposts Books and NAL.
PROMOTIONS AND INTERNAL CHANGES
Libby McGuire, formerly SVP and Publisher of Ballantine Bantam Dell, has been promoted to EVP and Publisher and continues to oversee the hardcover and mass market publishing programs.
At Viking, Julie Miesionczek has been promoted to Associate Editor, reporting to Rick Kot and Amber Qureshi. Maggie Riggs has been promoted to Assistant Editor, reporting to Wendy Wolf and Josh Kendall.
Norton’s Alane Mason has been promoted to VP, Executive Editor. She has been at the company since 1999.
Barnaby Dawe, Marketing Communications Director at News International, has moved to corporate sibling Harper UK, in the new position of Chief Marketing Officer, reporting to Victoria Barnsley.
Lucy Cummins has been promoted from Associate Director of Art to Art Director at S&S.
At Egmont USA, Greg Ferguson has been promoted to Senior Editor. He was previously an editor.
At Penguin Press, Virginia Smith Younce has been promoted to Senior Editor.
DULY NOTED
The Jean V. Naggar Literary Agency, Inc. (JVNLA) has expanded its services and are interested in partnering with agencies managing a backlist where original publication rights or eRights were either reserved by the author, or have reverted back to the author. Over the past two years, JVNLA has, its press release states, “cultivated a number of relationships with a variety of players in the eBook marketplace and continues to expand its understanding of this arena as new players emerge and opportunities evolve.”
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Berrett-Koehler Publishers, the San Francisco-based independent publisher started by former Jossey-Bass President, Steve Piersanti, is celebrating its 20th anniversary. The company plans on holding a multitude of events to mark the occasion, including a celebration on July 17, 2012 at which the top 10 bestselling BK authors will speak and be honored and a day-long “Community Dialogue” to engage BK authors, readers, service providers, and other stakeholders in planning collaborative actions to support the BK mission of “Creating a World That Works for All.” For details go to http://www.bkconnection.com/20thAnniversary.asp
UPCOMING DATES
January 28–February 2, 2012
New York International Gift Fair
Javits Center, New York, NY
February 1–3, 2012
Professional Scholarly Publishing 2012 Annual Conference
“Prospering with Digital: Making Investments Pay”
Mayflower Hotel, Washington, DC
February 1–6, 2012
Taipei international Book Exhibition
Taipei World Trade Center, Taipei, Taiwan
February 11–18, 2012
Havana International Book Fair
“To Read is To Grow”
San Carlos de La Cabana, Havana, Cuba
February 12–15, 2012
American International Toy Fair
Javits Center, New York, NY
February 13–17, 2012
Social Media Week
Conferences taking place simultaneously in
New York, San Francisco, Washington DC, Miami,
Rome, Paris, Toronto, Tokyo, Sao Paolo, London,
Hong Kong, and Singapore.
February 13–15, 2012
O’Reilly Tools of Change for
Publishing Conference
Sheraton Hotel & Towers, New York, NY
February 20–25, 2012
The Jerusalem International Book Fair
International Convention Center, Jerusalem, Israel.
February 22–25, 2012
Centenary College Art Association Conference
LA Convention Center, Los Angeles, CA
February 27–28, 2012
Niche Magazine Conference
The Hutton Hotel, Nashville, TN
