People Round-Up, Mid-May 2017

May 18, 2017

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PEOPLE

Mark Allin has resigned as President and CEO of John Wiley and Sons for family reasons, effective immediately. Chairman of the Board Matthew Kissner has been named interim CEO, and a search for a permanent successor has begun.

Karen Kosztolnyik, formerly Executive Editor at Grand Central Publishing, returns to the Hachette division as Vice President, Editor-in-Chief. She will lead the publisher’s hardcover line. She was most recently at Gallery Books.

At Macmillan, Liz Tzetzo has joined as Vice President of Client Publisher Services. She was previously Vice President of Marketing and Sales Director for Basic Books.

Don Linn has joined the UK-based Unicorn Publishing Group as a full partner and will be based in the company’s new Chicago office. He was previously Director of Chicago University Press Distribution Center.

At the Wall Street Journal, Christopher Carduff has joined as Books Editor. He has been Editor and Publishing Consultant at the Library of America since 2006 and the estate-appointed editor of posthumous works by Maeve Brennan, Penelope Fitzgerald, Daniel Fuchs, William Maxwell, and John Updike.

Larisa Elt joined Bookmasters on May 15 as Director of Publishing Services, having worked previously as Senior Director, Trade and Special Markets Sales at McGraw-Hill Education. She replaces Elizabeth Scarpelli, who is now Director of the new University of Cincinnati Press.

After more than ten years at the company, Henry Ferris has left his position as Executive Editor at William Morrow.

At agencies…Brooks Sherman is joining Janklow & Nesbit as Literary Agent on May 23. Most recently he was Agent at The Bent Agency. Nicola Barr is joining The Bent Agency as Literary Agent with her existing list of clients from Greene & Heaton. Cynthia Ruchti is joining Books & Such Literary Management as Literary Agent.

After eighteen years at Houghton Mifflin Harcourt and forty years in publishing, Harvey P. Berliner has retired from his role as National Sales Director, Education and Library Markets. He can be contacted at harvey.berliner@gmail.com.

Ken Oxenreider is retiring June 30 from his role as Vice President, Audio Sales at Simon & Schuster. He has worked at S&S for forty years, and exclusively in audio for twenty.

Gavin Caruthers has left his position as Associate Publisher at Post Hill Press to continue his consulting work.

On June 6, Christina Loff is joining Chronicle Books as Marketing Director, Adult Trade. She was most recently Senior Artist Relations Manager at Minted.

Vanessa Jedrej has been appointed Global Brand Manager at Wimpy Kid, Inc. and will start June 12. She was most recently Marketing Director at Penguin Random House Children’s in the UK.

Brooke Parsons has joined Public Affairs and Nation Books as Publicity Manager, having earlier been Senior Publicist at Penguin Press.

Christopher Werner is now Senior Editor at Amazon’s Lake Union Publishing imprint. Megan Mulder has moved over to Montlake Romance as Senior Editor, having previously worked at Kindle Press.

At Viz Media, Sarah Fairhall joins as Senior Editor, Licensed Publishing. She was previously Commissioning Editor for Penguin Random House Australia.

Allison Moore has joined Bloomsbury Children’s as Editor. She previously worked as Associate Editor at Little, Brown Children’s.

Jennifer Leight is joining Hollan Publishing as Editor. She was previously Executive Editor at Rodale.

PROMOTIONS

Sean Desmond has been appointed Vice President and Publisher of Twelve; he had been Editorial Director since 2013. Paul Samuelson has been promoted to Publicity Director after joining the Twelve publicity group four years ago. Elsewhere at Grand Central, Madeleine Colavita has been promoted to Editor at the imprints Forever and Forever Yours.

St. Martin’s VP, Publicity Dori Weintraub is heading a new independent bookseller initiative for the Press and will formally serve as Independent Bookseller Liaison in addition to her current role.

Hai-Yen Mura has been named Associate Publisher at Amazon Publishing, overseeing the Little A and Two Lions imprints.

At Algonquin Children’s, Eileen Lawrence has been promoted to Associate Publisher.

Patty Garcia has been promoted to Executive Director of Publicity at Tor, and Cassie Ammerman has been promoted to Assistant Director of Digital Marketing.

At Knopf, Erinn Hartman is now Director of Publicity, Jordan Rodman has been named Publicity Manager, and Anna Dobben has been promoted to Publicist. Roxanne Jones has been promoted to Associate Publicist at Berkley. At Portfolio, Stefanie Rosenblum has been promoted to Publicity Manager. Leila Siddiqui is now Marketing Coordinator at Dutton. Jeramie Orton moves up to Assistant Editor for Pamela Dorman Books and Viking.

Jennifer Hergenroeder has been promoted to Publicity and Marketing Director at The Experiment.

At Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, Megan Wilson has been promoted to Associate Director, Publicity; Hannah Harlow, to Director, Marketing; and Liz Anderson, to Marketing Manager. At Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Children’s, Kate O’Sullivan has been promoted to Senior Executive Editor, while Allison Vroegop and Lily Kessinger have each been promoted to Editorial Associate.

DULY NOTED

Ingram has sold Ingram Periodicals, its magazine sales and periodicals business, to TNG. During the transition period, Ingram’s current distribution centers in California, Tennessee, and Pennsylvania will continue delivery.

Dover Publications is launching Ixia Press, its first new imprint in ten years. Ixia, named for a South African flower representing happiness, will publish an original narrative frontlist of books addressing leadership, spirituality, business, and wellness. The line will produce about ten original books a year in addition to fifteen reprints.

Paper Lantern Lit has rebranded itself as Glasstown Entertainment, reflecting the company’s expansion into film, TV, and adult fiction.

Bradley Graham, co-owner of Washington, DC’s Politics & Prose, has been appointed to the American Booksellers Association’s Board of Directors. He fills the vacancy created by the election of Robert Sindelar to ABA president.

Highlights for Children will move distribution of all their book imprints from Perseus/Ingram to Penguin Random House Publisher Services, effective November 1.