PEOPLE
Michael Jacobs, President and CEO of Abrams, will step down from that role on November 28, to be succeeded by Mary McAveney. Jacobs will become executive chair of the board and serve in an advisory capacity during the transition. McAveney has been working as Chief Revenue Officer and Chief Marketing Officer at Open Road Integrated Media.
At Open Road, Peter McCarthy has become Chief Marketing Officer, succeeding Mary McAveney. He was most recently Director of Consumer Insights at Ingram Content Group.
At Penguin Young Readers, Ken Wright, President and Publisher of the Viking, Philomel, and Flamingo Publishing Group, will retire at the end of January 2023. Jordan Bishop joins Random House Children’s Books as Digital Marketing Associate. At Penguin Workshop, Celina Sun joins as Assistant Editor.
Dan Reynolds, SVP and Publisher of Workman Publishing, will retire at the end of the year.
At Macmillan, SVP, Communications and Events Erin Coffey is leaving the company on December 1. Francesca Oddo-Budinoff joins as Director, Marketing Strategy she was previously Senior Global Marketing Manager at Edelman. Victor Galloway joins as Senior Recruiter, Human Resources. At Farrar, Straus & Giroux, Molly Grote, lately Senior Publicist at MIT Press, joins as Senior Publicist. Rohan Kamicheril joins as Senior Editor; he is the founder of Tiffin and formerly Editor at Words Without Borders.
At Barnes & Noble Education, Hunter Blankenbaker joins as VP of Investor Relations. Most recently he was Head of Investor Relations at Justworks. He succeeds Andy Milevoj, who is now SVP of Investor Relations at 1-800-Flowers.com.
At the newly rebranded Canary Street Press, formerly HQN, Bess Braswell has been named Senior Publishing Director in addition to her existing role as Senior Publishing Director of Inkyard Press. Lisa Beech joins Nelson Books as Director of Publicity; previously, she was Associate Director of Publicity at WaterBrook & Multnomah.
Erin Fitzsimmons joins Sourcebooks as Senior Art Director for Fiction.
Jennifer Browne joins Holiday House as Creative Director of Neal Porter Books and Senior Art Director of Margaret Ferguson Books and Peachtree. Lucy Ricketts joins Peachtree as Designer.
At the University of Alabama Press, J.D. Wilson has been named Director, effective January 2023. He has most recently worked as Sales and Marketing Director at Northwestern University Press.
At Wonderwell, Eva Avery joins as Editorial Director. She was previously Editor at Chronicle Prism.
In agency news…Ann Rose, formerly of Prospect Agency, joins The Tobias Agency as Literary Agent. Sera Rivers joins Speilburg Literary Agency as Literary Agent; she was previously at Martin Literary Management. Additionally, Lara Love Hardin, most recently CEO and Senior Literary Agent at Idea Architects, is launching True Literary Agency. She will continue working on nonfiction and plans to expand her representation into literary fiction.
At Spiegel & Grau, Barry Harbaugh joins as Executive Editor and Joey McGarvey joins as Senior Editor. Harbaugh was previously Senior Editor at Little A/Amazon, and McGarvey was previously Senior Editor at Milkweed Editions.
Redina Demushi, formerly Senior International Operations & Marketing Associate at Scholastic’s International and Export Group, joins Scholastic Trade as Associate Global Marketing Manager. Talia Seidenfeld rejoins Scholastic as Editor; she was most recently at Callisto. Andrea Mosqueda, formerly Assistant Editor at Macmillan, joins as Associate Editor for Licensing, Brands, and Media.
Trey Glickman joins the digital marketing team at Simon & Schuster Children’s Publishing as Graphic Designer.
At Verso Books, Colby Groves joins as Digital Marketing Strategist.
Ally Russell joins the newly-opened US branch of Nosy Crow as Marketing Manager. She was previously Consumer & Educational Outreach Manager at Candlewick. Avery Cook joins as Marketing Associate.
At Sounds True, Lyric Dodson has joined as Developmental Editor.
PROMOTIONS
Katherine Devendorf has been promoted to VP and Director of Managing Editorial at Simon & Schuster Children’s Publishing. Dorothy Gribbin becomes Senior Director, Managing Editorial at Beach Lane Books, Paula Wiseman Books, Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers, Margaret K. McElderry Books, and Atheneum Books for Young Readers. Greg Stadnyk is now Art Director for Atheneum Books for Young Readers and Margaret K. McElderry Books. Nick Sciacca moves up to Executive Director of Design and Emerging Technology for Little Simon, Simon Spotlight, and Margaret K. McElderry Books. Leslie Mechanic has been promoted to Art Director for Little Simon and Simon Spotlight. Jenica Nasworthy has been promoted to Associate Director, Managing Editorial at Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers, Paula Wiseman Books, and Margaret K. McElderry Books. Jennifer Rothkin is now Senior Demand Planner/Special Projects for Little Simon, Simon Spotlight, Aladdin, Simon Pulse, and Boynton Bookworks. At Aladdin and Simon Pulse, Tiara Iandiorio becomes Senior Designer and Chel Morgan becomes Managing Editor. Kaitlyn San Miguel has been promoted to Production Editor at Atheneum Books for Young Readers and Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers. Kristie Choi is now Assistant Editor at Atheneum Books for Young Readers.
Margaret Harrison is now VP of Digital Services at Ingram Content Group.
At Scholastic, Beth Dunfey becomes Associate Publisher for Licensing, Brands, and Media and Conor Lloyd has been promoted to Associate Editor, Licensing, Brands, and Media. Michael Petranek becomes Editorial Director at Scholastic, AFK, and Graphix Media.
Patty Colins becomes Senior Director of Production, Licensed Books, and Compliance at Random House Children’s Books, while Amy Bowman becomes Senior Director of Production, Brands, and Four-Color Trade Books. Sarah Reck has been promoted to Assistant Director, Digital Marketing. Debra DeFord Minerva moves up to Senior Copy Editor.
At Macmillan, Kemi Umogbai has been promoted to Senior Director for Finance. Yana Hosken moves up to Director, Accounting. Darlene Fernandes becomes Senior Manager of DEI Strategy and Digital Innovation. On the central analytics team, Karen Rucker becomes Senior Business Analyst for Platform Development. Polina Udalova has been promoted to Recruiting Specialist for the HR team, while Sofiya Skelly moves up to HRIS Analyst and Sarah Pohlman-Beshuk becomes Associate, Human Resources. Ling Ling Lu has been promoted to Analyst, Data Systems.
Jill Corcoran is now Senior Director of Smithsonian Licensed Publishing.
At ReaderLink, Fern Downing has been promoted to Senior Director of Field Human Resources. Jenna Abboud moves up to Director of Corporate Human Resources and Communications. Chad Peterson moves up to Account Executive, BJ’s Wholesale Club, while Katie Coscia becomes Director of Sales for Costco and Amy Gorski becomes Director of Sales for Sam’s Club. Luiza Chitchian is now Associate Production Director. At ReaderLink Distribution Services, Natalie Navarro becomes Demand Planner Manager.
Ann Bissell and Carla Josephson both move up to Deputy Publishing Director at Borough Press.
Megan Roth moves up to Licensing and Editorial Content Director at Sesame Workshop.
At Storey Publishing, Alee Moncy is now Associate Director, Publicity & Marketing, managing both the adult and children’s lists.
In agency news…Gwen Beal has been promoted to Agent at UTA. Nicole Cunningham moves up to Agent at The Book Group.
Lily Steele becomes Lead Designer at Holiday House and Peachtree Publishing.
At Sourcebooks, Madison Nankervis is now Assistant Marketing Manager for Bloom Books and Eliza Smith is now Associate Managing Editor, leading the eXplore and Jabberwocky lists. Michelle Denney moves up to Print Buyer III.
Phoebe Dyer has been promoted to Social Media Manager at Bloomsbury.
DULY NOTED
Effective November 21, Columbia University Press will distribute Floating Opera Press.
RBMedia has signed a three-year agreement with Chronicle Books to expand its audiobooks partnership.
Entangled Publishing is launching an adult imprint, Red Tower Books, focusing on romantic fantasy and science fiction.
HarperCollins will handle all US sales, distribution, and warehousing for the UK’s Usborne, beginning February 1. The partnership begins with the Fall 2023 season and will see increased backlist distribution over time.
Barnes & Noble has purchased stationary and gift store retailer Paper Source.
Imprint Group and Book Travelers West, both independent publisher rep groups covering the western US, will merge effective January 1. The heads of the respective groups, Kurtis Lowe (BTW) and Derek Lawrence (IG), will become co-heads under the moniker Imprint Group.
EVENTS
November 11-27
Salon du livre de Montréal
Montreal, QC
November 13-20
Miami Book Fair
Miami, FL
November 14-18
University Press Week
online
November 17-20
NCTE Annual Convention
Anaheim, CA
November 25-27
Fan Expo San Francisco
San Francisco, CA
November 26-December 4
Guadalajara International Book Fair
Guadalajara, Mexico
December 2-4
China Shanghai International Children’s Book Fair
Shanghai, China
December 3-11
Istanbul Book Fair
Istanbul, Turkey
December 8-17
Jeddah International Book Fair
Jeddah, Saudi Arabia
January 5-8
MLA Annual Convention
San Francisco, CA
January 6-8
Fan Expo New Orleans
New Orleans, LA
January 12-15
Key West Literary Seminar
Key West, FL
January 14-22
Çukurova Book Fair
Adana, Turkey
