PEOPLE
At Harmony Books, Shannon Welch, formerly Executive Editor at Harper One, joins as VP and Editorial Director. At Penguin Random House Audio, Nicole McArdle, previously Assistant Director of Marketing at Portfolio, joins as Marketing Director and Camille Copeland joins as Associate Marketing Manager. At Rodale, Elysia Lang joins as Editor. Additionally, Denise DeGennaro, Random House Children EVP, Marketing Editorial and Copywriting, will retire at the end of the year, and Elana Seplow-Jolley has left her position as Editor at Ballantine Bantam Dell to launch New Moon Editorial.
Jennifer Smith joins Nelson Books as VP of Marketing. Before going into consulting in 2017, she was VP and Director of Publicity and Marketing at Simon & Schuster.
Scribner VP, Associate Publisher Roz Lippel will retire in November. Effective August 30, Stu Smith, presently National Account Manager and Director, Top Shelf, will become Associate Publisher.
At Sourcebooks, Brian Grogan joins as Senior Director of Mass Market Sales. Most recently he was SVP of Sales at HarperCollins.
At Zando, Nathalie Ramirez has joined as Director of Marketing & Imprint Partnerships. She was previously Account Lead for Crown + Conquer.
Jess Pellien, formerly Director of Publicity at Fortier Public Relations, rejoins The MIT Press as Director of Marketing and Communications.
At children’s audio platform Yoto, Larissa Helena has joined as Head of Content Acquisition, US. She was formerly Rights Manager at Callisto Media.
Ann Seaton and Kristen Rasmussen have been named Co-Executive Directors of the California Independent Booksellers Alliance. Seaton was previously CIBA’s Director of Operations and began on August 1; Rasmussen is General Manager of pages: a bookstore and will start on August 23.
At IBPA, Adeline Lui joins as Director of Marketing and Communications.
In agency news…Leslie Meredith joins Dystel, Goderich & Bourret as Agent. Previously she was Literary Agent at Mary Evans Inc.
At Little, Brown Children’s, Sydney Tillman joins as Publicity Manager. She had previously been Senior Publicist at Scholastic.
At Astra, Sarah Christensen Fu joins as Senior Marketing Manager. Deborah Ghim, lately Assistant Editor at Farrar, Straus & Giroux, joins as Associate Editor. And Jeanette Tran joins as Junior Graphic Designer.
Faith Wilson Stein, lately Associate Editor at Stanford University Press, joins Northwestern University Press as Senior Acquisitions Editor, while Kirsten Markusic joins as Digital Content and Systems Coordinator.
At Candlewick Press, Rachel Wood rejoins as Senior Book Designer.
At Kevin Andersen & Associates, Hannah Gómez joins as Senior Editor, Cultural Accuracy Reading Services.
Shannon Kelly joins Running Press as Editor. Previously she was Associate Editor at Abrams.
Jan Lynn Neal, formerly of Jan Lynn Editorial, joins Insight Editions as Senior Production Editor.
At Macmillan Children’s, Mia Moran joins as Production Editor. She was formerly Production Editor at Callisto Media.
Abi Pollokoff, lately Director of Content at Killer Visual Strategies, joins Girl Friday Productions as Production Editor. Reshma Kooner, previously Project Manager at Boeing, joins as Book Development Editor.
At Hilsinger-Mendelson, Emily Willette, lately Publicity Manager at Bloomsbury USA, joins as Publicity Manager.
Michelle Betters joins Verso Books as Publicist.
At Europa Content, Leah Petrakis joins as Media Rights Coordinator. She was previously Rights Specialist at Houghton Mifflin Harcourt.
Arianna Rebolini, Books Editor at BuzzFeed, has left the company.
PROMOTIONS
At Penguin Random House, Liisa McCloy-Kelley is now SVP, Director of Ebook Development and Operations. Marnie Cochran has been promoted to VP and Editorial Director of Rodale Books. At Random House Children’s Publishing, Janet Foley becomes VP, Executive Director, Managing Editorial and Copyediting and Kristopher Kam becomes Publicity Manager. Gwyneth Stansfield becomes Associate Director of Publicity at Random House, and Christine Johnston moves up to Senior Publicist. At G.P. Putnam’s Sons, Emily Mlynek is now Assistant Director. Alexis Patterson has been promoted to Senior Manager of Strategic Partnerships and Special Projects at Penguin Random House Audio. At Harmony Books, Michele Eniclerico is now Editor.
At Grand Central, Matthew Ballast has been promoted to VP, Executive Director of Publicity & Marketing.
Jennifer Gott becomes VP, Publisher of the Harper Christian gift division, which operates Thomas Nelson and Zondervan Gift. At Harper Children’s, Kerry Saretsky becomes VP, Direct-to-Consumer, and Erika DiPasquale has been promoted to Assistant Editor. And at William Morrow, Tessa James moves up to Assistant Editor.
Kay Birkner moves up to Assistant Publisher, Associate Director of Publishing for Sourcebooks Jabberwocky and Sourcebooks Young Readers.
At Macmillan, Amanda Schoonmaker and Katrina Washington both move up to become Assistant Director, Contracts. Jeremy Pink becomes Senior Production Editor. Kristen Pecci becomes Manager, Human Resources Business Partner. Natalie Gordon becomes Senior Benefits Manager. Additionally, Kristen Janecek has been promoted to International Sales Associate.
In agency news…Emily Forney has become Literary Agent at BookEnds Literary Agency, while Tracy Marchini moves up to Senior Literary Agent at BookEnds Jr. At Ayesha Pande Literary, Kayla Lightner has been promoted to Literary Agent and Rights Manager. At Trident Media Group, Marianna Sharp is now Foreign Rights Agent and Sarah McEachern is now Foreign Rights Associate Agent. Bethany Fulk has been promoted to Junior Agent at Holloway Literary.
Janea Brachfeld becomes Manager, Client Publisher Services at Simon & Schuster. At Gallery, Sydney Morris is now Senior Publicist.
At Candlewick Press, Jamie Tan has been promoted to Publicity Manager and Dana Eger moves up to School and Library Marketing Associate.
DULY NOTED
RBmedia will publish business audiobooks under its new brand, Ascent Audio. This line is the successor to Gildan Media, the brand they acquired in 2017. All business titles produced in partnership with other publishers will be released under Ascent Audio, and recently-acquired McGraw Hill Professional titles will be released under a joint McGraw Hill-Ascent brand.
EVENTS
August 25-29
Bouchercon
New Orleans, LA
October 3-5
PNBA Fall Trade Show
Portland, OR
October 7-9
MPIBA FallCon 2021
Denver, CO
