Publishing Trends

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 Larter.  Liz 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 Dillon.  Keith Clayton has been promoted to vice president, publisher, Random House Worlds, and Inklore co-publisher, Del Rey.  Tricia 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