Publishing Trends

PEOPLE

Hachette Book Group CEO Michael Pietsch, is transitioning to the role of Chairman, and will be succeeded by Hachette UK CEO, David Shelley, who will take on both HBG and HUK roles.  Richard Kiston, deputy CEO of Hachette UK, will be taking on the same role for Hachette Book Group. COO Joe Mangan has announced his retirement. The changes take place Jan 1st, 2024.

At Frankfurter Buchmesse, Christian Ebert will join as director of strategic marketing and sales, as of Jan 1st, 2024.

At Macmillan, Casey Sears has joined as senior production manager. Marc Dauphin has joined as recruiter, HR. Becks Perez has joined as assistant recruiter, HR. At Tor Publishing Group, Erika Tsang has joined their imprint Bramble as executive editor. 

At Penguin Random House, CFO, James Johnston, will retire after 33 years with the company. He will be succeeded by Manuel Sansigre on Jan 1st, 2024, and will report to Nihar Malaviya and continue leading global mergers and acquisitions as well.  Oliver Munday has returned to Doubleday, from Knopf, as creative director. Kelly Blair has been named senior art director for the Knopf Cooks line. At Viking/Penguin, Rebecca Marsh will lead the publicity department effective immediately, reporting to Kate Stark.  Adam Castro, previously associate graphic designer at IDW Publishing, has joined Random House Children’s Books as junior designer.  

At HarperCollins, Frank Albanese, SVP, market insight & sales operations will be leaving after 30 years with the company. Jim Hanas, VP, central marketing will now oversee sales analysis, market intelligence, data science, metadata and digital advertising teams. Megan Pagano, director of sales analysis will report to Hanas. Bel Banta has joined as senior publicist. She was previously associate publicity at Viking/Penguin. At William Morrow Group, Melissa Esner, formerly deputy director of marketing at Crown, has joined as senior director of marketing. At Ten Speed Press, Ginee Seo has joined in the newly created position of VP, editorial director of children’s publishing, reporting to publisher Aaron Wehner. She was previously at Chronicle. 

 New York Times Magazine poetry editor, Anne Boyer, has resigned from the company. 

At Insider, CEO Henry Blodget is stepping down and will be succeeded by Barbara Pang. The company will also be changing its name back to “Business Insider” as they look to improve the brand positioning of the business and tech news publication.

At Simon & Schuster, Stephanie Hitchcock has joined Simon Element as executive editor. She was previously the senior editor at Atria Books.

Liz Gough will join Dorling Kindersley (DK) in February 2024, taking the role of managing director of DK Adult and reporting to CEO Paul Kelly. She was previously executive publisher of Hodder & Stoughton.

At Sourcebooks, Nicole Lecht has joined as associate art director for Bloom Books.

At Fortier Public Relations, Lindsay Prevette, formerly executive director of publicity at Viking Penguin, has joined as director of publicity. 

At Chronicle Books, Alex Astras, has joined as associate manager for institutional and independent trade marketing.

At ReaderLink Distribution Services, Franklin Jackson has joined as director of information technology infrastructure. Danica Krenson has joined as production assistant. Kathleen McGuire has joined as accounts receivable deductions analyst. Madison Nickles has joined as purchasing coordinator. 

At Monacelli Press, Holly La Due has joined as publisher. She was formerly the editorial director at Princeton Architectural Press.

Publishers Marketplace announces that Sarah Perillo has joined as data and operations manager. She was previously director of foreign rights at Curtis Brown. 

Marcus Drenth, previously senior marketing manager at HarperCollins, is launching Dood Digital Marketing, a company that works with publishers and authors to fine-tune their digital marketing.

At the American Booksellers Association, design and production manager, Linda Ford will retire at the end of the year after 27 years with ABA. 

At the University of Pennsylvania Press, Isaiah Holbrook has joined as editorial assistant.

At the Morgan Library and Museum, Jennifer Kalter has been named director of education and public programs.

At Milkweed Editions, Joanna Demkiewicz, marketing director is leaving.

At Little Bee Books, Jeanine Le Ny, formerly senior category manager at Calisto, has joined Little Bee Books as executive editor for BuzzPop.

At the Greensboro Literary Organization, Lex Orgera has been named executive director. She was the founder and former owner of Penny Candy Books.

At the Wisconsin Historical Society Press, Josh Leventhal has been named director.

At Independent Publishers Group, Tim McCall, formerly trade sales director at Baker & Taylor Publishing Services, is joining as VP of sales. Breanna Spiegal has joined as trade sales representative for the west.

At Capstone Publishing, Haygood Poundstone has been named chief revenue officer.  

In Agency news:

Former founder of Brotherstone Creative Management, Charlie Brotherstone, has joined Aevitas Creative Management UK as VP and senior agent. 

Maria B. Campbell Associates has been appointed U.S. and U.K. scouts for Le Seuil and Points. This change will take place Dec 1st. 

At Curtis Brown, Karin Schulze has joined as director of foreign rights. She was previously director of subsidiary rights at Abrams Books.

PROMOTIONS

At Macmillan Publishers, Catherine Marvin has been promoted to senior director of communications.  Elena Guzman has been promoted to associate director of sales, specialty retail. Katie Gore has been promoted to director, talent programming. Lisa Edgar has been promoted to benefits manager. Eunice Pak has been promoted to sales product manager. D’Kela Duncan, Isaac Loewen, and Julia Metzger have been promoted to sales coordinator, children’s national accounts. Heather Hill has been promoted to counsel, employee relations, legal at Macmillan Publishers. 

At Penguin Random House, Divya Sawhney has been promoted to chief strategy officer. Emily Mahon has been promoted to senior art director at Doubleday. Linda Huang has been promoted to art director at Pantheon. Maddie Partner has been promoted to senior designer at Vintage Books. At Viking Penguin, Sarah Leonard has been promoted to senior publicist. Sara DeLozier has been promoted to publicity manager. 

At HarperCollins, Kristi Smith is being promoted to VP of marketing at Thomas Nelson Gift and Zondervan Gift. Nancy Inteli, has been promoted to VP and publisher at HarperCollins Children’s Books. Alyson Day, Bethany Vinhaterio, Dave Linker, and Luana Horry, have been promoted to editorial director at HarperCollins Children’s Books.  Kelly Roberts has been promoted to VP, divisional sales director at HarperCollins. Kara Coughlin has been promoted to associate director of sales operations at HarperCollins Publishers. Elizabeth Semrai has been promoted to associate director of marketing. Kim Silverton has been promoted to senior manager, sales analysis. Eduard Fabregat has been promoted to senior data scientist.  At William Morrow, Ariana Sinclair has been promoted to editor at Avon. At HarperOne, Sarah Schoof has been promoted to publicity manager. Alison Cerri has been promoted to publicist. Ashley Candelario has been promoted to associate publicist. At HarperVia, Alexa Frank has been promoted to associate editor. 

At Simon & Schuster, Louisa Solomon has been promoted to executive managing producer and casting director at S&S Audio. Mike Noble has been promoted to senior producer and supervisor for special projects at S&S Audio. Tiffany Frarey has been promoted to producer for S&S Audio. Allison Light has been promoted to producer & supervisor for special projects at S&S Audio. Hannah Woodruff has been promoted to marketing coordinator at S&S Audio. Gaby Audet has been promoted to associate marketing manager at S&S Audio.

At Scholastic, Anna Bloom has been promoted to executive director for trade. Shifa Kapadwala has been promoted to senior manager of global brand publicity. Kelsey Albertson has been promoted to trade sales manager for special markets. Brittany Schachner has been promoted to manager of frontlist planning. 

At Dorling Kindersley (DK), Mike Sanders has been promoted to senior VP and publisher at DK Alpha.

At Chronicle Books, Bora Kim, has been promoted to associate sales manager for national specialty at Chronicle Books.

At Hay House, Melody Guy has been promoted to editorial director.

At Sourcebooks, Christy Droege has been promoted to VP of data and analytics. Alexandra Derdall has been promoted to assistant digital marketing manager – special projects. Bonnie Svoboda has been promoted to associate director of customer experience. Margaret Kelly has been promoted to senior manager of customer experience. Taylor Geldermann has been promoted to assistant editor. 

At ReaderLink Distribution Services, Debra Zakarin has been promoted to VP and publisher of Printers Row Publishing Group children’s imprints Studio Fun and Silver Dolphin. Diane Cain has been promoted to editorial director of licensed publishing for adult imprints. April Graham has been promoted to editorial director of non-licensed products for the adult imprints of Printers Row Publishing Group. Korrina Cook has been promoted to director of accounting for Printers Row Publishing Group. Spencer Curley has been promoted to senior director of business analytics. Zach Gorski has been promoted to director of juvenile product management. Sara Branstetter has been promoted to senior space and merchandising planner. Ashley Fuchs has been promoted to supply planner. Courtney Garza has been promoted to senior manager, supply planning II  at ReaderLink Distribution Services. Sarah Kingsbury has been promoted to account executive. Alejandra Lavander has been promoted to international logistics manager. Mike Lepsi has been promoted to Blue Yonder WMS functional analyst. Robert Lisak has been promoted to senior support specialist. Audrius Macenis has been promoted to business analyst III. Ivan Martino has been promoted to supply planning manager. Mary Beth McDermott has been promoted to functional analyst. Benjamin Mertes has been promoted to Microsoft D365 applications manager. Amelia Meyer and Whitney White have been promoted to space and merchandise planner. Nimmi Patel has been promoted to co-op and billing specialist. Brian Potter has been promoted to demand planner III. Erich Weber has been promoted  to fulfillment planner III. Michael Wieringa has been promoted to supply planner III. 

At American Booksellers Association, Kate Brennan has been promoted to production manager. Sarah Lacey Graham has been promoted to member relations and data coordinator. 

DULY NOTED

Italy’s 21letters is opening an U.S. subsidiary with 26letters and will be releasing its first title this month. The publishing house focuses on translated fiction and graphic novels.

Sharon Fitzhenry, Canadian Distributor and Publisher died at 73 on Nov 8th. She served as president and COO of Fitzhenry & Whiteside.

Casey McIntyre, the publicist turned publisher died at 38 on Nov 12th. Earlier this year she assumed the role of VP, editor-at-large for Putnam Books for Young Readers. 

EVENTS

November 17- 19

China Shanghai International Children’s Book Fair (CCBF)

Shanghai, CHN

November 25- Dec 3

Guadalajara International Book Fair

Guadalajara, MX

November 27 

FutureBook Conference

London, ENG and Virtual