People Round-Up, Early July 2017

PEOPLE

Annie Callanan will take over as CEO of Taylor & Francis, succeeding Roger Horton. She was most recently CEO of the healthcare company Quantros.

Benjamin Steinberg is joining Dey Street Books in the new position of Associate Publisher. He was previously Director of Partnerships and Imprint Consumer Marketing for Knopf Doubleday.

Also at HarperCollins, Christopher Goff is retiring from his role as VP and General Counsel, effective September 30. William Adams, currently Senior VP, Associate General Counsel at Penguin Random House, will join HarperCollins as General Counsel worldwide at that time.

Ted Hill, founder of THA Consulting and this year’s chair of Digital Book World, has become General Manager of MVB US Inc., which bought Pubnet and PubEasy from NPD. The two ordering services had been sold to the market research company when it bought Nielsen Bookscan in January.

Raquel Pelzel has joined Clarkson Potter as Editorial Director. She is the coauthor of nearly twenty books and appears as a judge on the Food Network. She reports to Doris Cooper.

Phil Sexton is now VP, Publisher of Media Lab Books. He was previously VP, Group Publisher at F+W Media and oversaw Writer’s Digest and The Writer’s Store.

Eugenia Pakalik is joining Chronicle Books as Director of Trade Sales. She was most recently Director of Sales & Operations and Distribution Services with W.W. Norton.

At Bonnier Publishing USA, Gayley Avery is now Director of Marketing and Publicity for little bee books and Weldon Owen. She was previously Marketing Director at Scholastic.

At Little, Brown Books for Young Readers, Sandra Cohen has joined as Director, Licensing and Brand Management. She was most recently Senior Publishing Manager, Latin America, at Hasbro. Michael Strother is also joining as Editor on June 26; he was most recently Editor at Harlequin Teen. Elsewhere at Hachette, John Kulka has joined Basic Books as Executive Editor. He was previously Editor at Harvard University Press.

Lee Wind is now Director of Marketing and Programming for the Independent Book Publishers Association (IBPA). He was previously Vice President of Digital, Communications and Community Engagement, at Little Pickle Press.

Elizabeth Schonagen has joined Lumen Learning as Director of Teaching & Learning, moving from her position as Marketing Manager with McGraw-Hill Higher Education.

At agencies…Carolyn Savarese has joined Kneerim & Williams as Affiliated Agent. She was previously Group VP, Global Licensing, International Sales and Marketing, Contracts and Legal Affairs for Perseus Books Group, where she worked for eighteen years. At United Talent Agency, Meredith Miller has joined as Agent and will direct the foreign rights department; she was most recently Associate Director of Foreign Rights at Trident Media Group. Sarah Landis and Elizabeth Bewley will join Sterling Lord Literistic, both as Agent, on July 10, representing young adult and middle-grade books. They both previously worked as Editor at Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Children’s.

Carol Burrell is joining Workman Children’s as Senior Editor. She had most recently been working as a freelance, with prior experience as Editorial Director of Graphic Universe.

At Diversion Books, Keith Wallman has joined as Senior Editor. He was most recently Senior Editor at Lyons Press.

Lauren Plude has joined Montlake Romance/Amazon as Acquisitions Editor, having worked previously as a freelance editor.

Chris Finan, Director of American Booksellers for Free Expression, is leaving the American Booksellers Association on July 7 to become Executive Director of the National Coalition Against Censorship.

Abby Ranger has left her role as Senior Editor for HarperCollins Children’s to launch an editorial freelance business, Abby Ranger Editorial.

PROMOTIONS

Deb Brody has been promoted to VP, Editor-in-Chief at Houghton Mifflin Harcourt.

At Thomas Nelson‘s W Publishing Group, Kristi Smith has been promoted to Director of Marketing. Kendra Newton has been promoted to Marketing Director at Dey Street Books. Nicole Fischer has been promoted to Editor at William Morrow and Avon Books, in addition to handling digital-first imprint Avon Impulse. Also at William Morrow, Nick Amphlett has been promoted to Associate Editor.

Meg Reid has been promoted to Director of Hub City Press. Founder and current director Betsy Teter will continue on as Editor and Director of Development.

Marlene Kelly is now Senior Marketing Manager for Amazon Publishing.

At Crown Publishing Group, Liz Wetzel has been promoted to Publicity Manager for Crown, Hogarth, Tim Duggan Books, and Broadway Books. Maya Lane is now Associate Publicist for Crown Archetype, Three Rivers Press, and Harmony. At Putnam, Danielle Springer has been promoted to Assistant Editor.

At Simon & Schuster, both Erin Reback and Amanda Lang have been promoted to Publicity Manager.

Erin Young has been promoted to Agent at Dystel, Goderich and Bourret.

Beth Staples has been promoted to Editor for Lookout Books and Senior Editor for Ecotone Magazine.

At Tor, Desirae Friesen has been promoted to Publicist and Laura Etzkorn has been promoted to Associate Publicist.

Bridget Monroe Itkin has been promoted to Editor at Artisan Books.

DULY NOTED

Beginning July 1, Hub City Press is distributed by Publishers Group West.

Penguin Random House Publisher Services will handle sales and distribution of DC Entertainment in the UK and Ireland, effective September 1. It already represents DC Entertainment in all other territories.

Little, Brown Books for Young Readers is partnering with The Gotham Group to develop original IP properties for TV and film. The partnership launches next spring with the release of Phantom Wheel, a YA thriller by Tracy Deebs.

The American Library Association has launched their Book Club Central initiative. Honorary chair Sarah Jessica Parker announced her first pick, No One Is Coming to Save Us by Stephanie Powell Watts, with the next choice to come in the fall.