PEOPLE Penguin Random House CEO Markus Dohle is stepping down at the end of the year and will also resign from Bertelsmann’s executive board. His interim successor is Nihar Malaviya, currently President and COO of Penguin Random House US. At DK, Scott Grande joins as VP, Commercial Finance & Operations for North America. He was…Continue Reading
PEOPLE Brian O’Leary began as Executive Director of the Book Industry Study Group on October 3, succeeding Mark Kuyper, who left after a year in the job. Linda K. Zecher, President and CEO of Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, has left her position after five years. The Board of Directors has appointed L. Gordon Crovitz as interim…Continue Reading
PEOPLE Terry Newell has retired from Weldon Owen, where he was CEO. He may be reached at noodlesterry@gmail.com. Update added to original post on 9/17/14. Lisa Gallagher will move to DeFiore and Company as Literary Agent. Previously, Gallagher was at Sanford J. Greenburger Associates. Update added to original post on 9/17/14. Martha Otis will join Verso Advertising as President on October 1st when…Continue Reading
PEOPLE Seale Ballenger has been named Publicity Director for Disney Publishing Worldwide (DPW); he will be working out of New York and begins July 8. He was most recently Director of Marketing and Publicity at Zola Books. Meanwhile, Russell Hampton, President of DPW until May 2012, has joined NBC Universal in the new position of EVP of Franchise Management…Continue Reading
PEOPLE Mark Gompertz has joined Hearst Magazines as Creative Director, Content Extensions, reporting to EVP/GM John Loughlin. Gompertz will focus on developing and executing “substantive content” for the company’s print and digital brands. Gompertz was most recently an eBook consultant/project manager and executive producer of enhanced eBooks, and previously EVP Digital Publishing at Simon &…Continue Reading
PEOPLE Stefan von Holtzbrinck has announced a reorganization of the Georg von Holtzbrinck organization, effective July 2. The group will now be composed of three divisions: Global Trade, Global Science and Education, and Holtzbrinck Media. The global trade division, managed by current Macmillan US CEO John Sargent, will consist of all the consumer book publishing operations…Continue Reading
In a recent interview, Random House CEO Markus Dohle said he is “convinced that publishers have to become more reader oriented in a marketing and trend finding/setting way rather than in a direct to consumer selling way.” The tricky part: How can publishers be trendspotters? In this two-part series, we will try to address that…Continue Reading
It’s often said that social media is no substitute for face-to-face interaction. But Twitter, Facebook, and other electronic modes of communication, along with the decline of bricks-and-mortar bookstores and the bad economy, have changed the ways authors communicate with readers, and have shaken up the roles of speakers’ bureaus since we last wrote about them…Continue Reading
As authors venture further into inking separate e-book or multimedia deals with publishers like Open Road, the threat of lawsuits from their print publishers looms. The legal tug-of-war has only just begun with the 2001 judgment in the Random House v. Rosetta Books case, said speakers at the “Rethinking Author Contracts for the Digital World” panel during last month’s Publishing Business Conference in New York.
PEOPLE Little, Brown editor Reagan Arthur has received her own imprint, Reagan Arthur Books. Arthur’s title will be VP, Editorial Director, and she will continue to report to Geoff Shandler. The imprint’s first books will be published in Fall 2009. Nancy Hancock has joined HarperOne as Executive Editor, reporting directly to Mickey Maudlin. Hancock was…Continue Reading
