PEOPLE
The National Coalition Against Censorship has named Lee Rowland, currently policy director at the New York Civil Liberties Union, to replace the retiring Christopher Finan as its executive director.
At Penguin Young Readers, VP, executive director, art & design Deborah Kaplan will retire in September. She has been at PYR for 31 years and has worked on covers for Judy Blume, S.E. Hinton, Jacqueline Woodson, Mildred Taylor, Jon Scieszka, Roald Dahl and others. At Penguin Children’s, Gerard Mancini, vice president, executive director managing editorial & production editorial will retire in December. Mancini joined the Viking Children’s editorial team in the fall of 1985. Nathan Kinney, production supervisor, will retire on September 1. Artie Bennett, executive copy editor, will retire on November 10. As a result of PRH cost-cutting measures, VP Brendan Cahill, Product Designer Maha Ahmed, and Assoc Director of Product Management Janice Young will be departing PRH Labs.
At Sourcebooks, Ian Cook has joined as senior staff accountant. Erin LaPointe has joined as buyer II. Marleen Reimer has joined as associate director, subsidiary rights.
Jessie Bowman has joined as production editor for Atheneum Children’s. She was most recently an assistant production editor at Scholastic.
Edmison/Harper Literary Scouting has been appointed North American scout for French publisher Fayard.
Margaret Rosewitz has joined Candlewick Press as reprints production controller. She was previously senior associate, content management, at Harper Collins.
Isabella Nugent has joined Page One Media as senior publicist. She was previously senior publicist at Blackstone Publishing.
Janice Yi has joined Chronicle as associate social media manager.
Alexis Lassiter has joined Little Bee as sales manager. She was previously sales manager for James Patterson Books at Hachette.
At Neem Tree Press, Alison Savage has joined as coo. She most recently worked at Gallic Books for more than 11 years as deputy managing director. Cecilia Bennett joins as senior editor. She was previously journals production editor at Edinburgh University Press. Yasmeen Doogue-Khan joins as marketing & PR executive. She was recently marketing manager at Aurora Metro Books.
Sara Zatopek has joined The Experiment as editor. Zatopek was formerly associate editor at America’s Test Kitchen.
Ali Lake has joined O’Connor Literary Agency as associate agent.
At Laura Gross Literary Agency, Amelia Brown has joined as rights director. She was previously the manager of rights and contracts at Charlesbridge Publishing.
Carey Blankenship-Kramer joins Belcastro Agency as junior literary agent.
PROMOTIONS
Abrams has reorganized its marketing and publicity departments with unified groups now covering both children’s and adult imprints. Vice president of marketing Kim Lauber will now lead children’s and adult marketing. Newly reporting to Lauber are Christian Westermann, senior marketing manager; Danielle Kolodkin, brand and partnership manager; Kristen Milford, senior marketing manager; and Zoe Michaels, senior designer. Lauren Moye is promoted to marketing coordinator, children’s books, reporting to Borana Greku. Hallie Patterson will now oversee school & library marketing in addition to leading the children’s publicity team and has been promoted to senior Director, Children’s Publicity and School & Library Marketing. Patterson newly reports to Taryn Roeder, executive director, Abrams Publicity. Kristen Luby, associate director, school & library marketing, now reports to Patterson.
At Sourcebooks, Trent Harmon has been promoted to senior online sales manager. Kay Birkner has been promoted to associate director of training and development.
Emma Kupor has been promoted to associate editor for Harper and Harper Perennial.
At Open Road Integrated Media, Emma Chapnick has been promoted to publishing coordinator. Hannah Moseley has been promoted to manager, paid marketing.
At University of California Press, Erich van Rijn has been promoted to director of the press. Kim Robinson has been promoted to deputy director.
Shania Soler has been promoted to assistant literary agent at Metamorphosis Literary Agency.
At Columbia University Press, Caelyn Cobb, Christine Dunbar, Miranda Martin, and Stephen Wesley have been promoted to senior editor. Caitlin Hurst and Robyn Massey have been promoted to senior publicist.
Laci Durham has been promoted to associate publicist and assistant marketing manager at Page One Media.
Nicole Gureli has been promoted to designer at Holiday House.
Emily Ayubi has been promoted to senior director at APA Style.
Nancy Bruckman has been promoted to subrights & royalties senior manager at Candlewick Press.
Alison Thompson has been promoted to associate agent and has begun developing her own client list at Bukowski Agency.
At Trident Media Group, Emma Fingleton has been promoted to foreign rights agent. Alice Berndt has been promoted to foreign rights associate agent. Claire Romine has been promoted to associate literary agent. Julia Maziarz has been promoted to contracts associate.
DULY NOTED
Designed for current mid- to senior-level book professionals, NYU API will take place on New York University’s Greenwich Village campus, with the inaugural class attending the program from January 8 through January 12, 2024. NYU API’s all-day executive education sessions will feature lectures and workshops by leading publishing industry professionals with an emphasis on management and leadership strategy–and will include plenty of opportunities for networking. Topics include an overview of the state of the publishing industry, embracing change management, updates on the latest advances in data analysis and AI technology, and expanding your market for audio and podcasts, as well as a look at both diversity strategies that yield results, and fresh, consumer-focused approaches in marketing and sales.
Newly announced ByteDance publishing imprint has an editor. Allison Moore has started as an acquisition editor at 8th Note Press, launched recently by ByteDance (owner of TikTok). She’s acquiring romance, YA, and fantasy—including new titles and self-published titles—that appeal to the #BookTok audience. She seeks writers with a strong presence or potential in the social media space.
Actors union SAG-AFTRA says its members are permitted to continue working on audiobooks, in spite of the Hollywood strike. The union writes in a document shared with publishers, “Many of our members can and should keep working under various other contracts” with a list of approved projects, including audiobooks.
StreetLib, the cloud publishing platform that allows book publishers to distribute their catalogs internationally, and Dreamscape Media, an award-winning publisher and publishing services provider, today announced a multi-year agreement for global audio distribution. The new partnership offers book publishers and authors the opportunity to expand their reach to a global audience of listeners by distributing their ebooks and audiobooks on various retail and streaming sites such as Audible, Spotify, Apple, Nextory, Storytel, Bookbeat, and numerous others.
HarperCollins has announced that Inkyard Press, the YA imprint under the publisher’s Harlequin Trade Publishing division, will be shuttered, and its staff laid off on August 1.
Names of some employees who have accepted Penguin Random House‘s “voluntary separation offer” (VSO) are beginning to come out—even as a letter from Penguin Random House CEO Nihar Malaviya confirmed that long-rumored layoffs have become a reality.
EVENTS
August 4 – August 6
Fan Expo Boston
Boston, MA
August 9
National Book Lovers Day
August 10 – August 13
Fan Expo Chicago
Rosemont, IL
August 15
Bookstore Romance Day
August 19
Hero Hype Exp0
Orlando, Fl
