People Round-Up, Early July 2018

PEOPLE

Barnes & Noble announced that it has fired CEO Demos Parneros for “violations of the company’s policies” and that he will receive no severance. Until a replacement is found, his role will be filled by a committee of executives including the chief financial officer, the chief merchandising officer, and the VP of stores.

Effective August 6, Alison Lazarus joins Hachette Book Group USA as Executive Vice President, Retail Sales. She is presently President, Sales at Macmillan. Also effective August 6, Chris Murphy will become SVP, Retail Sales, shifting over from his role as SVP, Group Sales Director.

Julia Cheiffetz joins Atria as VP, Publisher of a yet-unnamed imprint. Previously she was Executive Editor at Dey Street Books. At Grand Central, Albert Tang has joined as Creative Director; he was most recently Art Director at Atria.

At Quercus US, Nathaniel Marunas has left his position as Publisher after six years of building the list. All inquiries should be directed to Elyse Gregory.

Liz Wetzel has joined Basic Books as Director of Publicity, succeeding Betsy De Jesu. Previously she was Publicity Manager at Crown.

At Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, Matt Schweitzer has joined as SVP, Marketing for all adult, young reader, and lifestyle titles. Most recently he was Senior Director, Integrated Marketing at HarperCollins Children’s Books.

Jamie Lockard has joined Thomas Nelson as VP, Marketing. She most recently worked as VP, Marketing and Chief Strategist at Oyster Allegoria.

At Random House Children’s, Dani Valladares joins as Editor for the Rodale Kids imprint, moving over from her prior role as Associate Editor at Little, Brown Children’s.

Brandi Larsen has left DK, where she was VP, Publishing, and can be reached at brandilarsen@gmail.com.

At Celadon Books, Christine Mykityshyn has joined as Director of Publicity. She was most recently Publicity Manager at Random House Publishing Group. Sara Beth Haring joins St. Martin’s as Marketing Manager, having worked previously as Marketing Coordinator at FaithWords. In addition, Cassie Gonzales joins Farrar, Straus Children’s and Roaring Brook Press as Associate Designer; she was most recently Assistant Designer at Little, Brown Children’s. And at Imprint, Weslie Turner, formerly Assistant Editor at Scholastic, has joined as Associate Editor.

At Nation Books, Remy Cawley has joined as Assistant Editor, having previously held that position at W.W. Norton.

Ann Bramson has retired from Workman Publishing after twenty-six years with the company. Most recently she was Executive Director, Special Projects.

Tom Hallock, Associate Publisher of Beacon Press, has retired from that role after twenty-two years and will pursue his interests in political and electoral organizing.

Emily C. Chiu, Principal at Square, has joined Barnes & Noble Education’s Board of Directors.

Following operational changes and layoffs at Novel Audio, Director of Publishing Michelle Kaatz and Acquisitions Editor Katie Robinson have departed the company.

In agency news…Kristin van Ogtrop, former Editor-in-Chief of Real Simple, joins InkWell Management as Literary Agent. Kelli Martin and Nicki Richesin join Wendy Sherman Associates as Agent; Martin was most recently Founding Editor of Montlake Romance.

Jennifer Senior, former Book Critic at the New York Times, will rejoin the paper in September as Opinion Columnist. She stepped down from her position in December and is currently on leave.

PROMOTIONS

Vanessa Vazquez has been promoted to Executive Director of Client Sales Services at Hachette Book Group.

At Penguin Books, John Siciliano has been promoted to Executive Editor and continues as Executive Editor for Penguin Classics. At Viking, Lindsey Schwoeri has been named Senior Editor. Kelly Snowden becomes Senior Editor at Ten Speed Press. At Berkley, Jen Monroe moves up to Associate Editor and Lily Choi and Grace House are both now Assistant Editor. And at Random House Children’s, Kate Keating has been promoted to Senior Director, Digital Marketing.

At Harper Canada, Kate Cassaday has been promoted to Executive Editor. At Park Row Books in New York, Laura Brown has joined as Editor, moving over from Harper.

Mike Zuccato has been promoted to General Manager, Ecommerce at Sourcebooks.

At the University of Chicago Press and the Chicago Distribution Center, Saleem Dhamee has been promoted to Director, Client Services & Business Operations and Latrice Allen has been promoted to Manager, Business Metadata.

In agency news…Michelle Richter has been promoted to Agent at Fuse Literary. Lauren Scovel has been promoted to Junior Agent at Laura Gross Literary Agency.

At Imprint, Nicole Otto is now Associate Editor.

DULY NOTED

In university press news: the University of Pennsylvania Press has signed with Ingram Academic Services for warehousing, distribution, and other services. The University of Virginia Press is partnering with the University of Delaware Press to provide manuscript editorial, design, and production services. Titles from UD will be distributed in conjunction with titles from UVAP via Longleaf Services. And effective this fall, University of South Carolina Press will be distributed by Hopkins Fulfillment Services.

Following its October 2017 purchase by Hachette UK’s Octopus, Kyle Books will move North American distribution and US sales to Hachette Book Group USA on September 1. Previously, the line was distributed by National Book Network and Baker & Taylor Publisher Services.

Naval Institute Press is launching a new graphic novel imprint, Dead Reckoning, to debut in fall 2018. Its line will focus on “military and naval history, military and naval biography, general history, and stories of the high seas.” After the initial list of five titles, the imprint will expand to 10-12 titles per year.

Sanford J. Greenburger Associates is now children’s and YA scout for V&R Editoras in Latin America and Brazil.