People Round-Up, Mid-October 2016

PEOPLE

Abrams has announced two new imprints. Jess Brallier has been named Vice President, Publisher of Abrams Plus. He previously worked in marketing and as a publisher at Little, Brown, Addison Wesley, and Penguin, and as Publisher and President of the Family Education Network. Jamison Stoltz has been appointed Executive Editor for a soon-to-be-launched imprint focusing on narrative nonfiction. He previously worked as Senior Editor at Grove/Atlantic. Amy Vreeland has joined Abrams as Senior Managing Editor, children’s division. Previously she was managing editor at Farrar, Straus Children’s.

At Holt Children’s, Christian Trimmer will take over as Editorial Director on November 7, following a reorganization of that unit. He previously worked as Executive Editor at Simon & Schuster Children’s. Also in the children’s group, Laura Godwin is starting a Godwin Books imprint, reporting to Jean Feiwel. Editors Sally Doherty and Lauren Bisom are leaving the company.

At Penguin Random House, John Schline is stepping down after over three decades with both Penguin and Random House. He had most recently been Senior Vice President, Corporate Director Business Affairs, and will serve as a consultant through the end of 2016. David Sanford has been promoted to Senior Vice President, Executive Director, Contracts and Permissions Worldwide. He was previously Vice President/Director, Publishing Contracts.

At Open Road, Caroline Ziegler has joined as Director, Business Development. She was previously Director, Business Development at Yodle. Carolyn Cox has joined as editor of The Portalist, a new website for fans of “fans of science fiction, fantasy, and genre-related pop culture news.” She was previously Editor at The Mary Sue.

At Ecco, Martin Wilson is joining as Senior Publicity Manager.

Erin Kottke is joining Catapult as Director of Publicity effective October 24. Previously, she was head of Erin Kottke Public Relations.

Fiona Kennedy, former Managing Director and Publisher of Orion Children’s, will join Head of Zeus in 2017 to run their new children’s imprint, Zephyr.

At Chronicle Books, Brittany Boughter has joined as Marketing Manager, Entertainment and Art. She was most recently Digital Marketing Manager at Penguin Random House.

At Wiley, Judy Verses is joining as Executive Vice President, Research. She succeeds Philip Carpenter, who is retiring. Verses was previously President, Global Enterprise and Education, at Rosetta Stone.

At Rare Bird, Andrew Hungate has joined as Marketing and Publicity Director. He previously worked for Dalkey Archive Press as Marketing and Development Fellow.

Narda Zacchino has joined Los Angeles-based Heyday as Executive Editor. She previously worked at the Los Angeles Times, as Associate Editor and Vice President, and at the San Francisco Chronicle, as deputy editor.

At DK, Christi Sheehan has joined as Associate Publicist. She was previously Publicity Assistant at Harlequin.

Vicki Jaeger has joined Printers Row Publishing Group, a division of ReaderLink Marketing Services, as developmental editor for Portable Press. Vicki was marketing manager at Mattel Consumer Products, and most recently a licensing consultant for entertainment and consumer products companies.

Colton Long is now Project Coordinator at Insight Editions.

At agencies…Jessica Craig has launched her own international literary agency, Craig Literary, based in Barcelona. She was most recently an agent at the Pontas Agency. Sarah Bedingfield has joined Levine Greenberg Rostan as Associate Agent. She was previously Assistant Editor at Crown and Hogarth.

At Disney Publishing Worldwide, Jeanne Mosure is leaving her position as Senior Vice President & Group Publisher. She had been with the Walt Disney Company since 1998.

Kathy Schneider is leaving her position as Senior Vice President, Associate Publisher at HarperCollins. She may be reached at kathyschneider987@gmail.com.

Cristina Lee, Operations and Commercial Director of Harlequin for Australia and New Zealand, is leaving the company as it is integrated into the operations of HarperCollins.

Gregory Henry has left his position as Assistant Director of Publicity at Regan Arts and can be reached at geehenry@hotmail.com.

PROMOTIONS

At HarperCollins, Doug Jones has been appointed Senior Vice President/Deputy Publisher of the Harper Group. He was previously Senior Vice President of Sales. In addition to his new role, he will serve as Publisher of Harper Perennial and Harper Paperbacks. At William Morrow Publicity, Kelly Rudolph has been promoted to Senior Director of Publicity. She was previously Director of Publicity. Anwesha Basu has been promoted to Associate Director, from Senior Publicity Manager. At Ecco, Ashley Garland has been promoted to Associate Director of Publicity and Emma Janaskie has been promoted to Associate Editor.

Theresa Thompson has been promoted to President at Sterling Publishing, where she has served as Executive Vice President since Marcus Leaver’s 2012 departure. She has worked for parent company Barnes & Noble since 2003.

At Penguin Random House, Robin Simon, Erica Cuculic, and Megan Thomas have each been appointed director, contracts, with all respective imprint responsibilities. Jessica Wells has been promoted to Director, Customer Operations, from Associate Director, Digital Customer Operations. Wendy Loggia and Krista Marino have both been promoted to Senior Executive Editor at Delacorte, and Monica Jean is now Assistant Editor. She was previously Editorial Assistant. At Crown Archetype, Ellen Folan has been promoted to Associate Director of Publicity. Wade Lucas has been promoted to Senior Agent Director, Penguin Random House Speakers Bureau, where he is Divisional Representative for Crown Publishing Group. At Avery, Anne Kosmoski is now Associate Publicity Director. She joined the Avery publicity team in 2007. Casey Maloney has been promoted to Assistant Publicity Director, from Publicity Manager. Ally Bruschi has been promoted to Associate Publicist. She was previously Publicity Assistant.

Melissa Manlove and Naomi Kristen have both been promoted to Senior Editor, Children’s, at Chronicle Books.

Claire Kelley has been promoted to Senior Marketing Manager at Roost Books, an imprint of Shambhala Publications. She was previously Marketing Creative Strategist and Editor.

Lindy Humphreys has been promoted to Associate Publisher for the newly-created Abrams Plus and will continue to run ebook and digital publishing.

At Gallery Books, Meagan Harris is now Publicity Manager.

Jennifer Abel Kovitz has been promoted to Associate Publisher of Catapult/Counterpoint Press/Soft Skull Press. She was previously Catapult’s Director of Marketing and Publicity.

At Open Road, Sarah Janet has been promoted to Senior Digital Marketing Manager, having previously worked as Marketing Manager.

At Sasquatch Books, Kate Reingold has been named Events Coordinator for adult titles. She was previously Marketing Coordinator.

IN MEMORIAM

Art Sesselberg, national accounts manager in Simon & Schuster’s special markets group, died on October 8 due to complications from pneumonia. He was 53.

DULY NOTED

The American Writers Museum has named Carey Cranston its inaugural president. Cranston had been President of Fox College in Chicago for twelve years. The museum, the first in the United States to focus exclusively on American writers, is slated to open in downtown Chicago in March 2017.

The Ecco Publicity department will no longer report to Harper Publicity. Going forward, it will be overseen by Miriam Parker, Associate Publisher for Ecco.

Penguin Random House Canada has created Penguin Teen, a new imprint that will bring together the YA titles published under Doubleday Canada Books for Young Readers and Razorbill Canada. Penguin Random House Canada Young Readers now consists of three imprints: Penguin Teen, Tundra Books, and Puffin Canada.

St. Martin’s Press has launched Wednesday Books, a crossover imprint that will publish books for both YA and adult audiences.