The U.S. Book Show opened on May 22nd to an overflow crowd that represented a broader range of industry folk than most conferences do: presidents and past CEOs (like Marcus Dohle, wearing a Shimmr t-shirt, to announce his recent investment in the company); veterans like Carol Fitzgerald, president of The Book Report Network; graduate students…Continue Reading
PEOPLE At Firebrand Group, founder and longtime head Fran Toolan will retire at the end of January 2023, to be succeeded by Angela Bole, presently CEO of the Independent Book Publishers Association. Toolan will continue on as a member of the Firebrand board of directors. Tara Catogge has been named COO of Insight Editions and…Continue Reading
PEOPLE Marty Lange joins Cengage as SVP and General Manager of National Geographic Learning. He was formerly President, North America, K-12 Education and Corporate L&D at 9 Lyceum. Stephanie Koven joins Blackstone Publishing as Head of Foreign Rights. She was previously Agent at Cullen Stanley International. At Highlights for Children, Andy Shafran has left his…Continue Reading
PEOPLE At Quirk Books, Brett Cohen is resigning as President and Publisher after twenty years with the company. Founder and owner David Borgenicht will return to his previous role as President. Jhanteigh Kupihea has been named Publisher and will lead the creative group. Monika Hewlett has also departed her position as VP, Director of Sales….Continue Reading
NYU’s Center for Publishing once again joined forces with Publishers Weekly on March 6 to present PubTech Connect, a day of conversation about innovation in media. While last year’s inaugural program had speakers who were less familiar with publishing, and less familiar to publishers, this year’s stayed a little closer to the base while still presenting a slew of new…Continue Reading
PEOPLE At Macmillan, Troy Williams has been appointed to the new position of VP & GM, New Ventures. Williams founded Questia Media, which he sold in 2007, and PeoplePad. Meanwhile, Dan Farley is leaving Macmillan, where he was President and Publisher of the Children’s Publishing Group, after 14 years of bicoastal commuting. Mark Polizzotti has…Continue Reading
PEOPLE So much for the dog days of August. . . . Jim King, SVP and General Manager at Nielsen BookScan, has left the company to become a consultant to the industry. He may be reached at jim.king.j [at] gmail dot com. Simon & Schuster Publisher Jon Karp has announced several more changes over the…Continue Reading
NYU’s Center for Publishing hosted its third Management Forum for Small and Independent Publishers April 15-16, and got an impressive turnout from around the country. Director Robert Baensch hosted the event. Friday morning was devoted to the Big Picture, and Bruce Harris, who headed sales at Random before going to Workman and now, consulting, gave…Continue Reading
PEOPLE Neil Ortenberg, EVP of the Avalon Publishing Group and Publisher of Thunders Mouth/Nation Books has resigned. He may be reached at (917) 620-4435. Becky Saletan is joining Harcourt as Editor in Chief in June. She was Editorial Director of North Point Press. Tina Pohlmann is also joining as Senior Editor, Harvest. She was Senior…Continue Reading
“Best of times, worst of times” was the Dickensian scenario facing representatives from more than 50 publishing houses who hunkered down at the first Management Forum for Independent Publishers, hosted April 4-6 by NYU’s Center for Publishing. At the top of the agenda? “The economy, the economy, the economy,” chanted Center for Publishing Director Robert…Continue Reading
