Top 5 Publishing Articles/Blog Posts of the Week 01/29-02/02

Every week, we recommend 5 publishing articles/blog posts that supplement the major news for the week. Whether data or industry commentary, we hope these 5 links will be a simple way to keep you in the know.

Are Authors Really Benefiting From Spotify? 

 

How Hunting Helped Hemingway’s Writing

 

UC Berkeley Students Create Children’s Books to Fight Book Bans 

 

What is Romantasy Fiction?

 

Students Have Not Regained Pre-Pandemic Reading Levels, Why? 

Top 5 Publishing Articles/Blog Posts of the Week 01/22-01/26

Every week, we recommend 5 publishing articles/blog posts that supplement the major news for the week. Whether data or industry commentary, we hope these 5 links will be a simple way to keep you in the know.

How Many Books Will You Read in Your Lifetime? 

 

How Are Ai Generated Books Changing The Publishing Landscape?

 

Why Money Makes Us Squirm and How Novelist Kiley Reid Translates That Into Her Writing

 

Celebrate Wilkie Collins 200th Birthday By Discovering His Works

 

From Mind to Manuscript to Movie- Author Megan Hunter Walks Through Her Experience 

Top 5 Publishing Articles/Blog Posts of the Week 01/15-01/19

Every week, we recommend 5 publishing articles/blog posts that supplement the major news for the week. Whether data or industry commentary, we hope these 5 links will be a simple way to keep you in the know.

Scholar Discovers More Works By Louisa May Alcott 

 

LA Public Library Joins the Book Publishing World 

 

BookTok is Everywhere but is That a Bad Thing? 

 

Why Writing From Your Heart is Overrated According to R.L. Stine

 

Texas’ Fifth Circuit Court Finds Book Banning Law Unconstitutional 

People Round Up, Mid January, 2024

PEOPLE

Liz Perl, EVP and chief marketing officer at Simon & Schuster, will retire on February 2. She first joined S&S in 2008 after three years as publisher of Rodale Books.

Firebrand Group announced that Tom Shawver has been named chief technology officer of Firebrand Technologies and NetGalley, starting January 16. Previously, Shawver served as CTO of 360 Media Direct

Karen K. Miller has been named CEO of Hidden Pigeon Company, which was launched last year to expand author and illustrator Mo Willems’s library of kids’ and family IP. Miller was previously at Cyber Group Studios and Disney, succeeds Kathy Franklin.

 

Kaitilin Harri has been named senior director of publishing at William Morrow. She was previously the senior director or marketing at Morrow.

 

Gotham Ghostwriters has announced that Nathan Robertson will be managing director, bookwriting. Prior to joining in 2019, he previously worked at Crown Publishing Group as senior editor.

 

Emma Peters has joined Countryman Press, an imprint of W.W. Norton as assistant editor. She was formerly the managing editor at PowerHouse Books.

 

Jim Dassise, the western region business manager for Arcadia Publishing has left.

 

At Penguin Random House, Chloe Gandy has joined Penguin Canada as editorial assistant, Natasha Tsakiris has joined as senior publicist, and Ayomikum Taiwo has joined as human resources coordinator. Cindy Yen has joined as as online and digital sales coordinator. Doubleday Canada has Diyasha Sen joining as editorial assistant. Kimberly Lew has joined Crown and Crown Currency as associate marketing director.

 

At Candlewick Press, Nicole Cotton is joining as a production assistant.

Little Bee Books and Yellow Jacket’s associate editor, Jaime Gelman will now acquire trade books for both imprints. She previously acquired licensed content for BuzzPop.

 

In Agency News…

Anna Llewellyn has joined as project coordinator at Brockaman, Inc.  

 

Molly Gendell has joined Maria B. Campbell Associates as a scout. She was previously an associate editor at Mariner Books.

 

KO Media Management has promoted Kate Rogers to associate agent and will continue in her role as licensing coordinator.

 

New Leaf Literary & Media has promoted Katherine Curtis to film and TV associate, and Eilenn Lalley has been promoted to marketing associate.

 

At The CAT Agency, Aliza R. Hoover and Christie Megill have been promoted to agent.

PROMOTIONS

At Penguin Random House Children’s, Annie Kelley has been promoted to executive editor. Rebecca Vitkus has been promoted to senior managing editor. Emily Hoffman has been promoted to associate managing editor. Stephanie Bay has been promoted to senior copy editor.  Alyssa Prado has been promoted to associate brand manager. At Penguin Random House Canada, Supipi Weerasooriya has been promoted to group assistant for marketing and publicity. Ellen Zhang has been promoted to sales representative for online and digital sales, and Ankanee Lagunarajan has been promoted to audiobooks coordinator. Julia Rickard is being promoted to senior publicist at Viking/Penguin. At Berkley Books, Amanda Bergeron has been promoted to VP and editorial director and will be overseeing the imprint’s contemporary historical fiction lists. Jen Monroe has been promoted to executive editor. Liz Sellers has been promoted to associate editor at Berkley. Candice Coote has been promoted to assistant editor.  Kiera Bertrand has been promoted to publishing associate. At One World and Roc Lit 101, Tiffany Ren has been promoted to associate marketing manager.

 

At Hachette Book Group, Suet Chong has been promoted to creative director of Artisan and Workman.

 

At HarperCollins Publishers, Andrew DiCecco has been promoted to director or production. Trish McGinley has been promoted to director of children’s production. Dion Fisco has been promoted to director of reprint production. Nicole Moulaison and Susan Kosko have been promoted to senior director of production. John Herring has been promoted to VP of production operations. Amy Baker has been promoted to VP, associate publisher, and editorial director for Harper Perennial and Harper Paperbacks. Drew Henry has been promoted to assistant editor at Dey Street Books.

 

Gillian Barth has been promoted to associate production editor at Amplify Publishing Group.

 

Little Bee Books has promoted Maggie Salko to marketing and publicity associate

 

Juliana Lauletta has been promoted to VP of operations at Astra Publishing House. Rachel Small has been promoted to director of publicity.

 

DULY NOTED

Publishers Lunch and the American Booksellers Association will host a virtual Buzz Books Editors and Authors Panel at 7 p.m. Eastern on Wednesday, January 24. Editor Leigh Haber once again serves as host/emcee.  Registration is free, and the first 25 booksellers to register will receive galleys of the featured books.

 

Simon & Schuster Children’s UK is launching two new imprints in 2024, Gallery Kids and Gallery YA. Ali Dougal, publishing director, will head the imprints with editorial director, Yasmin Morrissey. Emily Kelly has joined Simon & Schuster Children’s Publishing as managing editorial assistant. She was formerly assistant editor at Macmillan Learning.

 

Row House Publishing has announced its romance imprint, Generous Press which will focus on releasing BIPOC, LGBTQ+, and disability focused content. Publisher Eliana Ellis and deputy publisher Amber Flame have announced the press’ first title will be released in May.  

 

Mystery Writers of America have announced its special awards, with Katherine Hall Page and R.L. Stein as the grand masters and Michaela Hamilton of Kensington Publishing receiving the Ellery Queen Award. They will be honored at the annual Edgar Awards ceremony on May 1st in New York City.

 

Former executive editor of The New York Times and Pulitzer Prize winner, Joseph Lelyveld died at 86 on January 5th following complications from Parkinson’s disease. He started with The Times in 1962 as a copy boy and worked his way up to executive editor, a position he held from 1994 to 2001. 

 

Joan Acocella, dance critic and staff writer for The New Yorker from 1995- 2019 died January 7th at 78.

 

EVENTS

January 13-21

Çukurova Book Fair

Adana, Turkey

January 19

BISG (live/virtual): Doing Rights, Right Making the Case for Change 

New York, NY 

January 19-21

Albuquerque Comic Con

Albuquerque, NM

January 22

Gathering of The Ghosts

New York, NY

January 26-27

Sunshine State Book Festival

Gainesville, FL

January 18-31

Kolkata Book Fair

Kolkata, India

January 24- February 6

Cairo International Book Fair

Cairo, Egypt 

January 25-28

Angoulême International Comics Festival

Angoulême, France

February 1-5

Jaipur Literature Festival

Jaipur, India

February 5-8

Educational Book & Media Association (EBMA) 50th Anniversary Conference

Colorado Springs, CO

Top 5 Publishing Articles/Blog Posts of the Week 01/08-01/12

Every week, we recommend 5 publishing articles/blog posts that supplement the major news for the week. Whether data or industry commentary, we hope these 5 links will be a simple way to keep you in the know.

Open Ai Facing More Lawsuits 

 

Why Should We Read the Classics? 

 

Goodreads Shares Most Popular Books Over the Last Decade

 

How Planning Your Next Trip Will Help Your Writing  

 

Reading Challenges- Good or Bad? 

People Round Up, Early January, 2024

PEOPLE

Circana has announced organizational changes and, as a result, president U.S. Books,  Jonathan Stolper, will depart Circana and BookScan after 13 years heading the business.  He may be reached at jsto1984@gmail.com   Starting February 1st, longtime Client Development Executive Director David Walter will lead the US Books business under Circana’s Entertainment Sector.

 

Janice Audet, formerly executive editor at Basic Books of Hachette Book Group, has joined The MIT Press as editorial director.

 

At Berret-Koehler Publishers, Praveen Madan joins as CEO and publisher. He was previously CEO at Kepler’s BooksHe succeeds David Marshall, who is retiring after 17 years at the company. 

 

Jenny Davis has been named creative director, leading the newly created illustrated design team, at the Random House Publishing Group. She will report to SVP, creative director Paolo PepeSonia Persad is named associate art director for the newly created illustrative design team, WaterBrook & Multnomah Children’s Publishing Program and Bones Leopard is senior designer for Inklore

 

At HarperCollins, Gabriella Mongelli, formerly editor at Putnam, has joined Park Row Books as senior editor.

 

At Blackstone Publishing, Mike Heuer has joined as national sales manager.

At Macmillan Publishers, Susannah Noel has joined as production editor for managing editorial. Bhaskaran Mani has joined as lead data engineer. Michael Benton has joined as business systems analyst for platform development. Cassidy Leyendecker has joined Macmillan Publishers as author development and backlist manager.

 

Allison Serrell, formerly senior editor at Wonderwell Press has joined PA Press as senior editor.

 

Julie Jayne, associate publisher, has left Regnery Publishing.

 

Matthew Hafner has joined ReaderLink Distribution Services as district operations auditor.  Ashley Herrell has joined as space and merchandise planner. Amaya Sood has joined as omni channel sales support.

 

At Dreamscape Media, Xavier Dusseau has joined as a metadata specialist for video operations.

 

Jayashree’ Anderson, formerly gift & toy buyer at Red Balloon Bookshop, has joined Consortium as sales & support representative.

 

At Highlights, Chris Bauerle has joined as VP and general manager of books and consumer products 

In Agency News…

Elizabeth Pratt, formerly assistant at Park & Fine, has joined Trellis Literary Management as editorial associate. Tori Clayton, formerly subsidiary rights agent at the Jane Rotrosen Agency, has joined Trellis Literary Management as subsidiary rights and operations associate.

 

At Franklin & Siegal Associates, Brianna Zimmerman has joined as a literary scout. Dorian Randall has been promoted to senior literary scout.

PROMOTIONS

At Penguin Random House, Isabel DaSilva has been promoted to senior marketing manager at Dutton. Grace Layer has been promoted to associate editor at Dutton. Rachel Ake has been promoted to associate art director at Modern Library. Regina Flath has been promoted to senior art director at Del Rey. Joe Perez has been promoted to VP and executive art director at Harmony and Rodale. Greg Mollica has been promoted to VP and executive art director at Random House and One World. Donna Cheng has been promoted to art director at Dial and Hogarth.  

 

At Kokila, Namrata Tripathi has been promoted to president and publisher,  effective immediately.  Previously, Tripathi was Kokila’s SVP and publisher.   Joanna Cárdenas has been promoted to associate publisher. 

 

At Crown Publishing Group, Michelle Giuseffi has been promoted to associate director. Anahita Padmanabhan has been promoted to social media marketing manager. At Putnam Books, Brennin Cummings has been promoted to assistant director of marketing and Tarini Sipahimalani and Aranya Jain have been promoted to assistant editor 

 

At Macmillan Publishers, Offauna Goodman has been promoted to production manager

 

At Harlequin, Allison Lyons has been promoted to senior editor of Harlequin Romantic Suspense. Stephanie Doig has been promoted to senior editor at Carina Press

 

At Candlewick Press, Sofi Elbadawi has been promoted to marketing coordinator.

 

At Lee & Low Books, Elise McMullen-Ciotti has been promoted to senior editor at Lee & Low and Stephanie Frescas Macías has been promoted to assistant editor. Jennifer Khawam has been promoted to marketing coordinator and Shaughnessy Miller has been promoted to assistant marketing manager at Lee & Low.

 

At the University of North Carolina Press, Thomas Bedenbaugh and Carol Seigler are being promoted to assistant editor. 

 

Hannah Boardman has been promoted to associate publicist at TvS Media Group.

 

At Dreamscape Media, Erick Black has been promoted to director of production. Ben Coy has been promoted to production manager. Raj Mavi has been promoted to senior staff accountant. Emily Solomon has been promoted to editorial associate. Lauren Smetzer has been promoted to marketing specialist. 

 

DULY NOTED

Matthew Flamm, reporter and poet, died January 2 at age 70 after a battle with brain cancer. His work included writing for Crain’s New York Business, the New York Post, the New York Observer and the New Yorker.

 

EVENTS

January 11-14

Key West Literary Seminar

Key West, FL

January 12-14

Portland Fan Expo

Portland, OR

January 13-21

Çukurova Book Fair

Adana, Turkey

New York, NY 

[A note on the site states:  Digital Book World 2024, originally scheduled for January 15-17 in New York City, has been postponed indefinitely.]

January 19

BISG (live/virtual): Doing Rights, Right Making the Case for Change 

New York, NY 

January 19-21

Albuquerque Comic Con

Albuquerque, NM

January 22

Gathering of The Ghosts

New York, NY

January 26-27

Sunshine State Book Festival

Gainesville, FL

January 18-31

Kolkata Book Fair

Kolkata, India

January 24- February 6

Cairo International Book Fair

Cairo, Egypt 

January 25-28

Angoulême International Comics Festival

Angoulême, France

February 1-5

Jaipur Literature Festival

Jaipur, India

February 5-8

Educational Book & Media Association (EBMA) 50th Anniversary Conference

Colorado Springs, CO

Top 5 Publishing Articles/Blog Posts of the Week 01/01-01/05

Every week, we recommend 5 publishing articles/blog posts that supplement the major news for the week. Whether data or industry commentary, we hope these 5 links will be a simple way to keep you in the know. 

New Year, New Books! – What to Expect With This Year’s Upcoming Titles

 

Ramping Up Resistance- Why Book Ban Resistance Groups are Growing 

 

Is GoodReads Actually Good?- The Problems Behind The Review

 

Are Book Bans Beneficial? – Ghostwriter Sees Bans as Marketing Tool

 

How Lessons in Chemistry Was Inspired From a Bad Day

 

Top 5 Publishing Articles/Blog Posts of the Week 12/18-12/22

Every week, we recommend 5 publishing articles/blog posts that supplement the major news for the week. Whether data or industry commentary, we hope these 5 links will be a simple way to keep you in the know.

Time to Hit the Books: Researchers Found Reading Print Improves Comprehension Skills 

How Spot-On is “American Fiction” to The World of Publishing? 

James Patterson Spreads Holiday Cheer to Indie Bookstore Workers

How an Online Library is Making Sure LGBTQ Stories are Not Left Out 

You Shall Not Pass- Why is a Lord of The Rings Fanfiction Writer Being Sued?

People Round Up, Mid-December, 2023

Happy Holidays from the Editors 

PEOPLE

At Simon & Schuster, Judy Clain will be joining on January 16 as SVP and publisher of the relaunched Summit Books Imprint, reporting to CEO Jonathan Karp. She had been with Little, Brown & Company since 2011. Avery editor-in-chief Caroline Sutton has left Penguin Random House and will join Avid Reader in January. Kathyrn Renz Hamilton joined as executive editor for Convergent on December 6th.  She was previously at Harper One. Marie Florio, VP and director of subsidiary rights, will retire from Simon & Schuster, effective December 31.

 

At Random House Children’s, Julie Black has been named senior VP of sales strategic planning at Penguin Random House. . DK Children’s Arabella Stein will join the company on January 8 in the new role of trade strategy director, reporting to Sarah LarterLiz Sutton has joined as a production assistant. She was previously a production acquisitions liaison at Nori Media Group.

 

Neil Strong has been named COO of Macmillan effective January 2nd, 2024. He will be reporting to Jon Yaged. He previously was with Barnes & Noble as VP of supply chain and customer service. Jillian Briglia, formerly associate publicist at Doubleday has joined Farrar, Straus and Giroux as publicist.

 

At Hachette Book Group, Amar Deol will join as executive editor for Grand Central Publishing and begin his new role on January 3rd.  He was previously the senior editor at Atria. 

 

At HarperCollins, Beth Coates becomes publisher to The Borough Press after working a year as a consultant to the imprint. She was previously the publishing director at Vintage UK. Suzie Dooré will stay in her editor-at-large role. At the Morrow Group, Jennifer Hart and Benjamin Steinberg have been promoted to the role of deputy publisher, overseeing publishing strategy and operations. Hart will guide the fiction program and branded fiction properties and Steinberg will steer the nonfiction publishing programs. 

 

Harper Fiction’s Frankie Gray will join as managing director and publisher in spring 2024, reporting to Kate Elton. She is leaving her position as publisher at Bantam UK. Zondervan Books will have Mark Glesne joining as vice president of marketing. Most recently he led the special imprints team at HarperCollins Christian Publishing

 

Jennifer Finney Boylan has been elected president of PEN America. Boylan previously served as a vice president of the PEN America board of trustees.

 

At ReaderLink Distribution Services, Steve Rosenzweig has joined as district operations auditor. Calli Grimes has joined as assistant product manager. Matthew Balster has joined as lead SQL administrator. Kristen Aguilar has joined as account coordinator.

 

Kristin Rasmussen, formerly co-executive director at CALIBA, has joined Scholastic as district sales manager.

 

Gary Thompson has joined as editorial director for Square Enix Manga & Books. He was previously the director of Dead Reckoning, the graphic novel imprint of the Naval Institute Press.

 

At W.W. Norton & Company, Meghan Brophy has joined as senior academic marketing manager for trade.

 

Delaney Heisterkamp has joined Sourcebooks as a marketing and social media associate.

 

Ariane Moore has joined Fortier Public Relations as senior podcast publicist.  Most recently, she was assistant manager, satellite tours at Penguin Publishing Group.

In Agency News…

At New Leaf Literary & Media, Alaina Mauro has joined New Leaf Literary & Media as chief operating officer. Keifer Ludwig has joined as subrights assistant and Matt Belford has joined as literary agent.

 

Jane Rotrosen Agency’s Tori Clayton has been promoted to subsidiary rights sales agent. Allison Hufford has been promoted to subsidiary rights sales agent. Jack McIntyre has been promoted to subsidiary rights coordinator. Maria Burfield has been promoted to office manager, business affairs. Kristen Comeaux has been promoted to director of data management.

 

Agnès Rigou has joined Creative Artists Agency (CAA) as translation agent in the books department in London. She was previously head of rights at Harper UK.

 

Yelena Gitlin Nesbit, formerly executive director of publicity at HarperCollins, is joining Park & Fine Literary and Media as executive director of publicity and marketing. Danielle Barthel is joining as manager of creative development.

PROMOTIONS

At HarperCollins, Amy Perkins of Borough Press has been promoted to editor director. May Chen and Tessa Woodward have been promoted to v-p and editorial director for Avon Books

 

Scott Shannon has been promoted to president of Random House Worlds and will report to Random House Publishing Group president Sanyu DillonKeith Clayton has been promoted to vice president, publisher, Random House Worlds, and Inklore co-publisher, Del ReyTricia Narwani has been promoted to vice president, co-publisher and editor-in-chief, Del Rey

Ana Giovinazzo has been promoted to associate director, backlist digital strategy, penguin publishing group at Penguin Random House. Cassie Marini has been promoted to senior associate, backlist, at Penguin Random House. Aurora Slothus has been promoted to associate director, backlist publishing, at Penguin Random House.

 

Thea James has been promoted to v-p of customer operations at Penguin Random House. Jessica Wells has been promoted to v-p of customer operations and strategy at Penguin Random House. Stephen Shodin has been promoted to director of sales operations. Tom Broucksou has been promoted to manager of sales operations. Lillian Ball has been promoted to publicity manager at Avery and TarcherPerigee Imprints. At Ballantine Books, Sara Weiss has been promoted to editorial director for nonfiction.

 

At Macmillan Publishers, Sonja Flancher is promoted to marketing associate at Henry Holt & Company.

 

Nicole Bond has been promoted to v-p and executive director of subsidiary rights at Simon & Schuster.

 

Laura Elmassih has been promoted to senior national accounts manager at ReaderLink Distribution Services. Lawrence Carls has been promoted to senior sales operations manager. Zach Zivo has been promoted to account representative. Rebecca Schenkenfelder has been promoted to collection specialist.

 

Sourcebooks’ Ashley Delaney has been promoted to customer experience order specialist.

 

Joel W. Coggins, formerly design and production manager at University of Pittsburgh Press, has joined University of Virginia Press as production manager, 

 

Deborah Arca has joined The Upper Room as marketing manager for books and devotionals. 

DULY NOTED

Publisher’s Weekly editorial director, Jim Milliot received the first-ever Frederic G. Melcher Lifetime Achievement Award. The annual award recognizes those who make a significant impact on publishing business.

Obituary: Roy Gainsburg

Former president of St. Martin’s Press Roy Ellis Gainsburg, 91, died on December 9. He worked for 30 years as a lawyer at Szold & Brandwen, specializing in publishing and literary law and representing St. Martin’s Press, Macmillan Ltd. of London, and the J.R.R. Tolkien estate. He became president of St. Martin’s from 1987 until 1997, then served as an administrative VP until he retired in 2009.

 

EVENTS

January 4-7

MLA Annual Convention 

Philadelphia, NJ

January 5-7

Fan Expo New Orleans

New Orleans, LA

January 11-14

Key West Literary Seminar

Key West, FL

January 13-21

Çukurova Book Fair

Adana, Turkey

New York, NY 

[A note on the site states:  Digital Book World 2024, originally scheduled for January 15-17 in New York City, has been postponed indefinitely.]

January 19

BISG: Doing Rights, Right Making the Case for Change 

New York, NY 

January 19-21

Albuquerque Comic Con

Albuquerque, NM

January 22

Gathering of The Ghosts

New York, NY

January 26-27

Sunshine State Book Festival

Gainesville, FL

January 18-31

Kolkata Book Fair

Kolkata, India

February 1-5

Jaipur Literature Festival

Jaipur, India

Top 5 Publishing Articles/Blog Posts of the Week 12/11-12/15

Every week, we recommend 5 publishing articles/blog posts that supplement the major news for the week. Whether data or industry commentary, we hope these 5 links will be a simple way to keep you in the know.

Real Consequences For Fake Reviews- Publisher Drops Author for “Review Bombing” 

PEN America Releases Book Ban Research 

Can One Book Really Explain it All? – Why is Millennia Spanning History So Popular?

Bringing Banned Books Back to Florida- Why is a Non-Profit Responding to The Rise in Book Bannings?

A Year in Review