Jonathan Karp is now settled in as EVP and Publisher of the Simon & Schuster trade imprint. Karp, who succeeds David Rosenthal, came from Twelve, an imprint of the Hachette Book Group that he founded in 2005. A new Publisher for Twelve is actively being recruited.

Isabel Swift, who was Editor Emeritus at Harlequin, has launched her own media and communications company, Swift Global Media, and will consult on literary projects and programs. She may be reached at isabel [at] swiftglobalmedia [dot] com.

Suzanne Murphy has started at Disney Publishing Worldwide as VP Publisher, reporting to Jeanne Mosure. She had been VP, Publisher of Trade Publishing and Marketing at Scholastic. Coincidentally, Ellie Berger, Scholastic’s President of Trade Publishing, announced that Miriam Farbey has been hired to the newly created position of Global Publisher, Nonfiction, for the Trade Publishing division. Meanwhile, Cecily Kaiser, who was Editorial Director in the trade division for Cartwheel and Little Scholastic, joins Abrams in the new role of Publishing Director of books for kids under five.

Denise Cronin, VP and Director of Random House Subsidiary Rights, announced that Toby Ernst has been hired as the Random House Publishing Group Domestic Rights Manager. She was previously at Sterling.

Sheryl Stebbins has joined Kaplan on a permanent basis as Executive Director of the editorial group. She had been a consultant for the company. Previously, she was Director of Author Marketing Solutions at Author Solutions.

Judith McCarthy, Publisher, Consumer Group at McGraw-Hill, has left the company to attend Rutgers University School of Law. She had been at McGraw-Hill since 2005.

Helen Boomer has been named VP, Director of Subsidiary Rights at Penguin Children’s. She had been Executive Director of Subsidiary Rights at HarperCollins. Nancy Conescu will join Dutton Children’s as Executive Editor on July 6, reporting to President Lauri Hornik. Most recently, she was Senior Editor at Little, Brown Children’s.

Macromark, Inc., an “acquisition, retention, and monetization media agency,” announced that Brian Murphy has become its new Director of Interactive Technology. He was a Web Development Manager at Scholastic.

John Wicker has been named head of the publishing segment for the North American Consulting Media & Information Services group of Tata Consultancy Services. He was most recently EVP of Sales at Klopotek.

Continuum’s Sales & Marketing Director, Ken Rhodes, has taken on global oversight of sales from the UK. Thomas Willshire, US VP Sales, has left the company and may be reached at twill44 [at] verizon [dot] net.

Susan Renouf, VP and Associate Nonfiction Publisher at McClelland & Stewart, has retired. She plans to focus on freelance consulting and editing and may be reached at susan [at] abanakiconsulting [dot] com.

Lauren Wohl is stepping down as Associate Publisher of Roaring Brook Press/Farrar, Straus & Giroux Books for Young Readers/First Second, but will continue to consult for Macmillan. She may be reached at llwohl [at] aol [dot] com.

Peternelle Van Arsdale has left Putnam to become a freelance editor and ghostwriter. Her new company is called pva books, inc., and she may be reached at pva [at] pvabooks [dot] com.

In other editorial news, Catherine Onder has been named Senior Editor at Hyperion. She had been an editor at HarperCollins. . . . Niki Papadopoulos has moved to McGraw-Hill from Public Affairs. . . . Holly Halverson has been named Senior Editor at Howard Books. She was an editor at Hachette. . . . James Jayo has joined Globe Pequot as an editor at Lyons Press. He had been an associate manager of foreign rights at Crown. Anna Bliss is also joining Lyons Press, as an editor-at-large. She previously held positions at Overlook, HarperCollins, and Sobel Weber Associates.

Hachette has hired two new senior-level employees in its New York office. Kate Hartson is now Senior Editor for the Center Street imprint, and Andrea Glickson is Marketing Director for the FaithWords and Center Street imprints. Both report to SVP Rolf Zettersten. Hartson most recently owned her own company, Yorkville Press. Glickson was most recently Director of Publicity and Marketing for Octopus Books USA.

Other Press has hired Sarah Reidy as Director of Publicity. She had been an Associate Director of Publicity at Gallery/Threshold Editions/Pocket.

Literary agent Paul Fedorko has left Trident and joined the N. S. Bienstock Talent Agency.

Allison Korleski is joining Interweave as Acquisitions Editor for the book division, a new position. She was a book buyer at Barnes & Noble.

Adrienne Schultz, who was an editor at Penguin’s Portfolio imprint, has left to become a freelance editor.

Recent departures for as yet unnamed greener pastures are Denise McGann from Rodale, where she was Director of Rights Acquisition, and Judi Powers from DK, where she was Director of Marketing and Public Relations.

Promotions and Internal Changes

Borders’ Mark Bierley has become COO and continues as CFO. He started at the company in 1996.

As is appropriate given the ethereal nature of the job, Penguin is moving Dan Ruffino, who is based in Australia as Marketing and Publicity Director, to New York to assume the position of Group Digital Director for Penguin Group Worldwide, and reporting to John Makinson, who is based in London.

Crown VP, Digital and Marketing Strategy and Publisher, eBooks, Philip Patrick announced that Donna Passannante has been named Deputy Marketing Director, Crown Publishing Group, responsible for the marketing of Clarkson Potter, Potter Style, Potter Craft, Watson-Guptill, Monacelli Press, and paperback programs. Jay Sones takes on expanded responsibility as Marketing Manager for Three Rivers Press and Broadway paperbacks and eBooks. Jacob Bronstein is now Digital Marketing and New Product Development Director, and Patty Berg is Marketing Director, Crown Publishers and Broadway Books. Meredith McGinnis was appointed Marketing Director, Crown Archetype and Crown Business.

At Hachette Digital, Neil DeYoung has been promoted to Executive Director, Liz Kessler moves up to the new position of Digital Managing Editor, and Alessandra Aliquo becomes Digital Operations and Client Services Coordinator.

At NBN, Catherine Forrest Getzie has been promoted to Director of the newly created Electronic Publishing Department. She was Fusion Services Manager.

Jon Ackerman has been named Sales Director at Adams Media. He had been National Accounts Sales Manager.

Megan Wilson has been promoted to Senior Publicity Manager at Houghton Mifflin Harcourt.

Heidi Graynor has been named VP of Sales Administration at Penguin. She had been Director of Sales Administration. Camilla Sanderson has been named VP Digital Business Development at Penguin Children’s, from VP Subrights.

Christina Amini has been promoted from Senior Editor to Executive Editor, Formats, at Chronicle. Beth Weber has been promoted to Associate Publishing Director, Custom Publishing, from Publishing Manager.

Carrie Swetonic has been promoted to Associate Marketing Director at Dutton. Krista Marino has been promoted to Executive Editor at Delacorte.

Viking Penguin has promoted Liz Van Hoose to Editor. She has been at Viking since 2008.

Matt Schwartz, VP, Director of Digital Marketing & Strategy at Random House Publishing Group, announced that Lisa Turner has been promoted to Digital Project Manager. She has been Associate Managing Editor for Ballantine and its imprints since 2007.

Christine Gillespie has been promoted to VP, Associate Publisher for Knopf, Pantheon, and Schocken, continuing to report to Patricia Johnson.

Frank Nunez has been promoted to VP, Business Operations at Simon & Schuster, reporting to Joe D’Onofrio.

DULY NOTED

Ex-Random House CEO and current CEO of AKS Marketing & Media, Markus Wilhelm, wins the Direct Marketing Educational Foundation’s Vision Award.

Congrats to Shelf Awareness, which celebrates its fifth anniversary this month.

Lots of movement at Barnes & Noble: Liz Scheier has joined Barnes & Noble.com as Editorial Director, working with publishers to create “unique, exclusive content digital opportunities throughout our digital distribution platforms, including in store programs” and reporting to Theresa Horner, VP Digital Products. She was most recently Director of Publishing Relations at ScrollMotion and previously an editor at Random House and Penguin. Mike Ferrari has left the company. He had held several positions there, most recently Director, Digital Content at B&N.com.

Margot Schupf has joined Sterling Innovation as VP, Publisher. She was SVP, Editorial Director, Digital Publishing for the Morrow/Avon/Eos group.

With the demise of Air America, website Editor-in-Chief Beau Friedlander may now be reached at simnyc [at] rcn.com.

Ron Marshall, Borders CEO for barely a year, has resigned to join A&P. Michael Edwards, who joined Borders last fall as EVP and Chief Merchandising Officer, has been named interim CEO. He will report to Mick McGuire, Chairman of the Borders board. Also at Borders, Dan Angus has become VP, Customer Loyalty, and will be in charge of loyalty marketing programs and initiatives. Angus was formerly VP, Customer Relationship Marketing, for Guitar Center.

Scott Lubeck, most recently VP of Technology for Wolters Kluwer Health, Professional and Education, has been appointed Executive Director of the Book Industry Study Group (BISG). Lubeck has also held executive positions with Harvard Business School Publishing and Newsstand, Inc., as well as with Perseus and National Academy Press.

Nicholas Brealey announced that John Groton has been named Sales Director for the North American operations based in Boston. He joins Editorial Director Erika Heilman and Finance Director Jill Friedlander. He was most recently at Globe Pequot, following many years at Random House.

Whitney Peeling is leaving PublicAffairs to “volunteer for a few months in India and Bangladesh.” Jaime Leifer returns as Publicity Director. Leifer was at Perseus from 2001–07 and was most recently Public Relations Manager at The New Yorker.

Sydny Miner has been named VP, Executive Editor of the Crown Publishing Group after 26 years with Simon & Schuster.

Kevin Hamric has left Quayside to join The News Group as VP, Book Operations. He will also be working with TNG’s sister companies, Select Media Services and ProLogix.

HarperCollins Digital announced the formation of three teams: Author Services, headed by Carolyn Pittis, SVP, HC Digital; Global Author Services Consumer Products, headed by Joe Park, currently CEO of BibleGateway/Zondervan and a former Amazon executive; and Business Development, where Leslie Hulse continues. In addition, Larry Nevins announced the formation of the Digital Technology Services Group. Mike McGinniss, VP of Emerging Technologies, will move into the newly created role of SVP, Digital Technology Services. Greg Mucci has been named Director of Digital Technology Operations. He had been a consultant at HarperCollins.

Direct Brands has hired David Gitow as CMO and Alan Katz as EVP, Business Development, the first major appointments under new CEO Deborah Fine. Gitow was CMO at both B&N.com and Barnes & Noble, and founded and ran Time, Inc. Home Entertainment.

Elizabeth Evans has joined the Jean V. Naggar Literary Agency. She has worked at Kimberley Cameron & Associates (formerly the Reece Halsey Agency) for the past six years.

Mary Dolan has left Kaplan, where she was Executive Director of Sales, to join Harvard Business Press.

The Library of America has hired Trish Hoard as Production Editor. Hoard was previously Managing Editor at Counterpoint and Associate Publisher at Shoemaker & Hoard. She replaces retiring Managing Editor Sharon Graham.

Rubin Pfeffer, most recently Simon & Schuster SVP of Children’s Publishing, has joined East/West Literary Agency. Pfeffer is focusing on projects with a digital component and will head up the East Coast branch of the agency as a partner and content agent, a new position.

Joe Esposito, one-time President of Encyclopedia Britannica and earlier at Random House, has signed on as CEO of GiantChair, which provides direct marketing services for the publishing industry on the internet. He reports to Cory McCloud, the company’s founder and president for technology. Most of GiantChair’s operations are based in Europe, but Esposito remains in California.

PROMOTIONS AND INTERNAL CHANGES

Nicole Reardon has been promoted to Associate Director of Marketing at HarperCollins, replacing Christine Boyd, who left at the end of 2009. Reardon reports to Angie Lee, who has been promoted to VP Marketing.

Frances Gilbert has been promoted from VP, Editorial Director to VP, Publisher, Sterling Children’s, which includes the imprints Sterling Children’s Books, Sandy Creek Press, Begin Smart, and Flash Kids.

NAL’s Brent Howard has been promoted to Editor. At Random House Publishing Group, Kathleen McAuliffe has been promoted to Marketing Manager, Trade Paperbacks. Camille Dewing-Vallejo has been promoted to Senior Copywriter and Elizabeth Eno to Designer. At Bantam Dell, Randall Klein has been promoted to Associate Editor.

Tom Roberge has been named Associate Editor at Penguin, and remains publishing coordinator there.

Lance Fensterman has been promoted to Group VP at Reed Exhibitions and will now devote his attention exclusively to running and growing the company’s Pop Culture business. Steven Rosato has been promoted to replace him as Event Director of BookExpo America.

HarperOne Associate Publisher Claudia Boutote is being promoted to SVP. Executive Editor Gideon Weil has been promoted to VP.

DULY NOTED

OverDrive released interesting statistics about its library business in 2009: 401 million website pages viewed by library patrons (69% growth over 2008) and 8.7 million digital titles checked out (63% increase over 2008); and 4 billion minutes of spoken-word audio downloaded from library websites, with a 70% increase in audiobook checkouts over 2008. E-book checkouts increased by 53%. And there was a 40% increase in new library users over 2008. 2009’s most downloaded adult fiction audiobook was The Lost Symbol by Dan Brown; the most downloaded nonfiction audiobook was 25 Things to Say to the Interviewer to Get the Job You Want by Dexter Hawk. The most downloaded adult fiction e-book was The Lost Symbol; the most downloaded adult nonfiction e-book was Blink by Malcolm Gladwell. OverDrive also releases monthly “Most Downloaded Books from the Library” lists.

UPCOMING EVENTS

The Books for a Better Life Awards, which honor self-help books and have raised over $1.6 million for the New York City – Southern New York Chapter of the National MS Society since 1996, will take place on February 22 at NYC’s Millennium Broadway Hotel. Robin Roberts, co-anchor of ABC News’ “Good Morning America,” hosts the awards and Carolyn Reidy, President and CEO, of Simon & Schuster, Inc., will be inducted into the Hall of Fame.

The Book Business Publishing Business Conference and Expo takes place March 8–10 at the New York Marriott Marquis. Speakers include Susan Danziger, CEO of DailyLit; Laura Dawson, President of LJNDawson; Bob Miller, President and Publisher of HarperStudio; and Steve Forbes, Chairman and CEO of Forbes Media.

BAM’s Eat, Drink & Be Literary brings authors to Brooklyn’s BAMcafé for dinners, readings, and discussions. Upcoming speakers include Lynn Nottage (February 11), Sam Lipsyte (March 11), Colm Tóibín (April 8), and Joshua Ferris (April 22).

IN MEMORIAM

Karen Hansgen, Associate Publisher of Skira/Rizzoli, died in her sleep on January 10. A memorial service was held on January 15.

In December, Jenny Frost stepped down as President and Publisher of Crown, after a reorganization that split off the information and audio units. She may be reached at jennyfrost [at] verizon dot net. Doubleday Canada’s Maya Mavjee will relocate to succeed Frost overseeing the smaller Crown division.

Bonnie Ammer has resigned from her position as Random House EVP, International Sales. Also at Random House: Andrew Stanley, VP, Sales Director for Special Markets, Proprietary Sales will be relocating to London in January, where he will take a position with Random House UK. His replacement will be appointed in the new year.

Brant Janeway is leaving his advertising positions at The Daily Beast and Book Movement.com to join Macmillan Audio as Marketing Director. He was Director of Advertising at Random House from 2006 to 2009.

FSG/Holt has hired Devon Mazzone as Director of Subsidiary Rights, replacing Denise Cronin, who left earlier this year for Random House. Mazzone was previously a scout with Del Commune Enterprises.

Harold Lee is joining Sterling Publishing as VP Finance, reporting to CEO Marcus Leaver. He was most recently CFO for Classic Media.

Publishing blogger and Beatrice.com founder Ron Hogan joins Houghton Mifflin Harcourt’s Trade & Reference as Director of E-Marketing Strategy, succeeding Sanj Kharbanda, who has moved to the division’s Digital Strategy group. Hogan reports to Bridget Marmion, SVP, Director of Marketing.

Philip Turner has announced “an independent publishing imprint,” Philip Turner Book Productions, to be distributed by Rowman & Littlefield. He may be reached at philipsturner [at] gmail.com.

Rachel Chou has gone to Open Road Integrated Media as Chief Marketing Officer. She was at HarperCollins. Brendan Cahill recently joined the company as VP, Publisher.

Nancy Paulsen, President and Publisher of Putnam Children’s, will launch an eponymous imprint, Nancy Paulsen Books, in 2011. Paulsen will keep her current position until a replacement is named; a search is underway.

News Corp announced that Anthea Disney, EVP Content, is retiring after twenty years at the company. Disney plans to counsel young female entrepreneurs through a nonprofit she recently cofounded in northwest Connecticut, the Women’s Enterprise Initiative. Disney was President and CEO of HarperCollins Publishers from 1996–97, then became Chairman and CEO of News America Publishing Group, before taking on the role at Gemstar-TV Guide.

In the aftermath of MaryAnn Bekkedahl’s resignation from Rodale, EVP/Group Publisher CEO Maria Rodale has promoted Gregg Michaelson to President, Integrated Marketing & Sales and CMO. All Rodale’s publishers now report to Michaelson. Rodale Books SVP/GM Publishing Director Karen Rinaldi continues to run the books division. John Schoenfelder will join Little, Brown as editor of its forthcoming suspense fiction imprint.

Grand Central Senior Editor Natalie Kaire has joined Stewart, Tabori & Chang as a Senior Editor.

Dedi Felman joins Times Books/Henry Holt as a Senior Editor, reporting to Paul Golob. She was most recently at Simon & Schuster.

Virginia Smith joins The Penguin Press as Editor. She had been at Ecco and previously at Simon & Schuster.

Ellen Geiger and Sam Stoloff have been made partners at the Frances Goldin Literary Agency.

Susan Hawk has joined The Bent Agency. She was Marketing Director at Holt Children’s.

Paul Kozlowski has joined Other Press as Director of Marketing & Sales. He was most recently Director of Sales Marketing at Random House.

PROMOTIONS AND INTERNAL CHANGES

Cary Goldstein has been promoted to Associate Publisher at Hachette’s Twelve. He has been at Twelve since it started in 2006.

Kirsty Melville has been named President of the Book Division (a new position) at Andrews McMeel. Before joining the company in 2005 as EVP and Publisher, she was VP, Publisher at Ten Speed Press for a decade and, earlier, was founding Publisher of Simon & Schuster Australia.

Elsevier Vice Chairman Youngsuk (Y.S.) Chi has been named CEO of Elsevier’s science and technology division, reporting to Reed Elsevier CEO Erik Engstrom. He takes over from division CEO Herman van Campenhout.

DULY NOTED

Although David Kipen, National Endowment for the Arts Director of Literature, National Reading Initiatives, has been laid off and his position eliminated, The Big Read initiative will continue. As of June 2010, the Big Read will have awarded grants, conducted publicity campaigns, and produced resource guides and other materials on 31 recommended works of fiction, nonfiction, and poetry for over 800 communities across the country.

Despite notice that Kirkus Reviews will cease publication, its editors say there will be a January 2010 issue.

Timothy Keller, author and head of NYC’s Redeemer Presbyterian Church, has expanded his publishing relationship with two Penguin lines. His hardcover publisher Dutton and paperback publisher Riverhead are creating a Redeemer imprint, to launch in 2011.

UPCOMING EVENTS

The Book Business Publishing Business Conference and Expo takes place March 8–10 at the New York Marriott Marquis. Speakers include Susan Danziger, CEO, DailyLit; Laura Dawson, President, LJNDawson; Bob Miller, President & Publisher, HarperStudio; and Steve Forbes, Chairman & CEO, Forbes Media.

BAM’s Eat, Drink & Be Literary brings authors to Brooklyn’s BAMcafé for dinners, readings, and discussions. Speakers this season include E. L. Doctorow, Colm Tóibín, and Joshua Ferris.

Steve Rubin, former Doubleday Broadway President and Publisher, who began at Bantam Books in 1984 and was most recently Random House Publisher-at-Large, has been named President and Publisher of Henry Holt, reporting to Macmillan CEO John Sargent. Dan Farley will now focus exclusively on his other job as President and Publisher of the recently formed Macmillan Children’s Publishing Group, also reporting to Sargent.

Paul Von Drasek has been named Trade Sales Manager of Capstone Publishers. He was Executive Director of Sales at Houghton Mifflin Harcourt.

Mikyla Bruder has been named Associate Publisher at Timber Press, which was acquired by Workman in 2006. She was previously Executive Editor in the Gift division at Chronicle. Meanwhile, Chronicle announced that former Ten Speed Press Publisher Lorena Jones has taken over as Publishing Director. Jones will begin a digital food and drink publishing program and oversee Chronicle’s food and drink list as a whole. She left Ten Speed in November 2008, prior to Random House’s acquisition of the company.

Former Pantheon Publishing Director Janice Goldklang has joined Globe Pequot Press as Executive Director of Editorial, responsible for all trade programs. Steve Culpepper has the same title and is responsible for the regional travel and outdoor recreation programs.

Crown Executive Editor Heather Jackson announced that, having “thoroughly enjoyed nearly two decades in publishing,” she has resigned in order to “create and produce content in other media, as well as keep a hand on a few editorial projects each year.”

Brendan Cahill has moved to Jane Friedman’s Open Road Integrated Media as VP Publisher. He had been a Senior Editor at Gotham before attending Wharton, where he received his MBA. Most recently, he was at Boston Consulting Group.

Nick Trautwein has been hired as Senior Editor at the New Yorker, succeeding Emily Eakin. He was an editor at the Penguin Press.

Will Pesce, President and CEO, and Steve Smith, EVP and COO, of John Wiley announced the retirement dates and successors for Steve Kippur, EVP and President, Professional/Trade (retirement date July 31, 2010; successor Mark Allin); Eric A. Swanson, SVP, Scientific, Technical, Medical, and Scholarly (retirement date October 31, 2010; successor Steven Miron); and Bonnie Lieberman, SVP & General Manager, Higher Education (retirement date April 30, 2011; successor Joseph S. Heider). Heider will be promoted to the role of VP and COO of global effective May 1, 2010 and will continue to report to Lieberman.

Andrews McMeel has hired Linda Jones as SVP of its calendar and greeting card and Accord Publishing divisions, reporting to CEO Hugh Andrews. Jones was SVP Merchandising at Borders.

Abrams has hired Veronica Wasserman as License and Brand Manager for Children’s and Amulet Books. Wasserman previously worked in the Penguin Children’s licensing department.

Diane Bailey is joining HarperCollins as SVP of Human Resources, replacing Jim Young, who left earlier in the year. She will oversee all Human Resources functions for HarperCollins worldwide and sit on the executive committee. She was most recently at Heineken USA.

George Bick has joined the Doug Grad Literary Agency as an Associate Agent. He was most recently SVP, Director of Sales and Associate Publisher at HarperCollins.

Mary Grey James, a former book buyer for Ingram, has joined East/West Literary Agency as a partner agent. James serves as VP and President-elect of the Women’s National Book Association.

PROMOTIONS AND INTERNAL CHANGES

Simon & Schuster EVP, Operations Dennis Eulau has also been named CFO. Eulau takes over from David England, who has resigned. The company has hired David Byrnes in the new position of VP, Finance and Strategic Planning, reporting to Eulau. Elsewhere at Simon & Schuster, Kerri Kolen and Sarah Hochman have been promoted to the position of Senior Editor.

Ben Sevier has been promoted to Executive Editor at Dutton.

Julie Will has been promoted to Executive Editor at Rodale.

John Freeman, former president of the National Book Critics Circle, has officially been appointed Editor of Granta. He was appointed Acting Editor in May after the departure of Alex Clark and will be based in New York and London. His book The Tyranny of Email was published by Scribner in October.

Alison Donalty has been promoted to Executive Art Director in HarperCollins’s Children’s division. She began at HarperCollins in 1994 as an Assistant Designer.

At Dial Press, Noah Eker has been promoted to Editor.

DULY NOTED

Beginning in March 2010, American Vampire, a comic from Vertigo (DC Comics), will be released each month, including two stories: one by short story writer Scott Snyder and the other by Stephen King. King will write about Skinner Sweet, a bank-robbing, murderous cowboy of the 1880s who becomes a new breed of vampire. Snyder’s half will tell the story of a vampire in America during the 1920s. Both stories will be drawn by Rafael Albuquerque, who will continue the series with Snyder after King’s story ends.

UPCOMING EVENTS

The first Self-Publishing Book Expo will be held Saturday, November 7. The press release quotes Bowker figures claiming that the number of books self-published in 2008 increased 132% over the prior year. With a total of 285,394 titles, on-demand publishing surpassed traditionally published books for the first time. The Expo will feature panels and over 25 exhibitors, including authors, self- publishers, and POD companies, and was created by Diane Mancher and Karen Mender.

The Mercantile Library Center for Fiction honors Gerry Howard and announces the recipient of the First Novel Prize on November 9.

“The Wall in Our Heads,” the 2009 Words Without Borders fundraiser, also takes place on November 9. The evening features readings from the group’s new anthology, The Wall in My Head: Words and Images from the Fall of the Iron Curtain by Paul Auster, Siri Hustvedt, and Peter Schneider. You can buy tickets here.

“Reading in a Digital Age,” a panel discussion moderated by Bill Goldstein and featuring, among others, New York Magazine’s Adam Moss, the NYPL’s Ben Vershbow, and Fourth Story Media’s Lisa Holton, takes place November 11 at CUNY.

Sonny Mehta, Chairman and Editor-in-Chief of the Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group, has been named the 2009 winner of the Asian American Writers’ Workshop’s Lifetime Achievement Award. The Workshop will hold a cocktail reception and gala dinner in Mehta’s honor on November 13, at At Vermilion. Mehta will receive the award from the Sri Lankan-born Canadian novelist Michael Ondaatje. The dinner marks the beginning of Page Turner: The Inaugural Asian American Literary Festival, a two-day event showcasing award-winning authors reading together at the powerHouse Arena in Dumbo, Brooklyn.

The Independent Booksellers of New York City (IBNYC) unite to celebrate Independent Bookstore Week, “a citywide event highlighting the diverse cultural contributions made by indie bookshops across the five boroughs,” November 15–21. The week will kick off with a party at powerHouse Arena and will conclude on America Unchained Day. A special poster designed by New Yorker cartoonist Bruce McCall will be on display in participating shops and available for sale. The IBNYC is an alliance of booksellers working together to promote the cultural, literary and economic benefits of shopping at New York City’s over 60 independent bookstores.

The Model

Writing projects, translation, and representing US literary agents to German publishing communities

The Background

O’Leary has a special place in this article (and our hearts!) not only because she used to be the International
Editor of PT, but because she did what lots of people have dreamed of but never imagined actually doing—set up shop abroad.

We’d like to think O’Leary’s days in MPI’s offices collecting German bestsellers for PT sparked her interest in Berlin, but in reality, a six-month stint there between her time at MPI and Crown, and her participation in last year’s Frankfurt Book Fair fellowship program, are probably more responsible. She left the corporate world of Random House earlier this year and moved across the Atlantic with the intention of setting up her own business.

O’Leary is now juggling a variety of projects. She is working with the Frankfurt Book Fair to help promote the Tools of Change conference that will take place this October. She’s also been taking on a range of writing projects, most recently for the new Museyon travel guide series, and German-to-English translation projects, “including a brochure for the Jewish Museum Berlin, publishers’ rights guides, an exhibition review from a Berlin-based art magazine, and even part of a technical manual for air conditioners!” She’s also representing several US literary agents to German publishers, including Movable Type and the Indent Literary Agency, and plans to build that side of her business.

“Although many would say that periods of economic downturn are the worst time to branch out on one’s own, and I tend to be a pretty risk-averse person,” O’Leary says, “in a certain sense, the industry-wide layoffs I was witnessing diminished a lot of the fear I had. Don’t get me wrong, I still have a patch of gray hair that I attribute to my lengthy internal debate about whether or not to make the move, but so far I have no regrets. There are times when I feel like a college student again, pulling all-nighters to finish projects, and start-up costs can add up, but it’s a small price to pay for being in the city I love.”

She advises others not to get too isolated. “Even if you are working on your own (or perhaps especially if you are working on your own), it’s important to find ways to collaborate with others and to stay connected with industry developments.” Plus, a more practical tip: “Never get into the habit of working in your pajamas if you work from home!”

Crown Publishing Group President and Publisher Jenny Frost announced the appointment of Diane Salvatore, who was most recently Editor-in-Chief of Ladies’ Home Journal, as VP, Publisher of Broadway Books, a new position following the realigning of Broadway and Doubleday within the Random House Group.

Margaret Milnes, VP, Licensed Publishing, Nickelodeon, has resigned after 10 years with the company. Paula Allen, formerly Warner Brothers Consumer Products and Screenland Associates, has joined Nick as SVP, Global Publishing. She will report to Leigh Ann Brodsky, President, Nickelodeon and Viacom Consumer Products.

Josalyn Moran, VP, Director, Children’s Books, Barnes & Noble, has been named Publishing Director at Chronicle, succeeding Bill Boedeker, who left late last year.

Betsy Hulsebosch, former VP of Random House, and Ronni Stolzenberg, former VP of RH and HarperCollins, announce the creation of their new book marketing business, Launchpad, which will provide internet, social networking, publicity, advertising, and promotion solutions. E-mail Hulsebosch at betsy [at] launchpad360.com and Stolzenberg at ronni [at] launchpad360.com.

Scholastic eliminated another 11 positions last week in its Trade and Klutz divisions. Among those leaving in the downsizing were Margaret Coffee, Director of Field Sales, and Grace Maccarone, an editor who had been with the company for 30 years.

Angela Battle has joined LearningExpress as Director of Book Products. Most recently, she was a Senior Sales Specialist at Pearson Education. She will oversee all aspects of the book program, including acquisitions of new titles and book channel expansion by working directly with NBN, LearningExpress’s book distributor. She reports to Ilsa Halpern. Karen Wolny, Editorial Director of LearningExpress, has left the company and may be reached at kawolny [at] hotmail.com.

Simon & Schuster imprint Howard Books announced that Becky Nesbitt will join the company as VP and EIC. She was Associate Publisher for Tyndale House’s nonfiction line. Jennifer Willingham has joined the company as Vice President, Publicity. She comes from Guideposts.

Ingram has merged its Digital, Books, and Lightning Source groups into Ingram Content under CEO and President, Skip Prichard, and the Espresso Book Machine will now be available to all Lightning Source customers. Frank Daniels, Chief Commercial Officer of Ingram Digital, will leave the company in July.

At Yale University Press, longtime Associate Director and Publishing Director Tina Weiner is leaving that position to become Special Assistant to the Secretary of Yale, working in the Office of International Affairs.

At Borders, VP of Corporate Communications Anne Roman is joining a marketing firm in Toledo. She will continue to work for Borders on a consulting basis, and will remain the primary “media contact.” In other Borders news, Scott Laverty has been appointed CIO. He was most recently associated with IBM.

Barb Burg, former SVP and Executive Director of Publicity and Public Relations at the Bantam Dell Publishing Group, has launched a new company, barb burg, ink, offering publicity, public relations, media training, media placement, publishing strategy, and brand management services. She may be reached at barb [at] barbburg.com.

Marty McGrath has been hired by Abrams in the newly created position of Executive Director of Sales, reporting to Mary Wowk, VP of Sales and Marketing. Most recently, he was VP, Deputy Director of Adult Sales at Random House.

Nancy Miller has joined Bloomsbury/Walker as a Consulting Editor, acquiring both nonfiction and fiction. Most recently, she had been Executive Editor at Collins.

Anna Stein has left Irene Skolnick’s agency to open the New York office of London-based Aitken Alexander.

Jacqueline Flynn has joined Joelle Delbourgo Associates as an agent. She was formerly Executive Editor at Amacom Books. Carrie Cantor is heading up the agency’s new editorial services division, and may be reached at cantor.carrie [at] gmail.com.

At Little, Brown Children’s, Diane Cain has been hired for the newly created position of Brand Marketing Director, James Patterson, reporting to Deputy Publisher Andrew Smith. She was most recently Executive Director of Marketing at Harper Children’s.

Zagat Survey laid off 16 employees in a variety of departments on May 20. The company previously cut 20 employees in December 2008.

PROMOTIONS AND INTERNAL CHANGES

HarperCollins UK MD Amanda Ridout will leave the company at the end of June to “pursue other ventures.” Following Ridout’s notice, CEO and Publisher Victoria Barnsley said the roles of MD of HarperCollins, MD of HarperFiction, and MD of Harper NonFiction/Collins will be phased out. Belinda Budge will be promoted to the new role of Publisher of HarperCollins UK, reporting to Barnsley. Budge will oversee all publishing for HarperFiction and NonFiction/Collins. Simon Johnson, currently Director of Business Development, will become Group Commercial and Business Development Director, reporting to Barnsley and COO Keith Mullock. BookBrunch notes that Patrick Janson-Smith has “an enhanced role.”

Ken Oxenreider, Simon & Schuster VP Audio Sales, will join the Audio Division June 1, reporting to Audio EVP and Publisher Chris Lynch. He will assume responsibility for the company’s Audible, iTunes, Overdrive, and E-Music accounts and will continue to work with sales for major account presentations. He remains the sales point of contact for distribution clients.

Phoenix Publishing is launching a children’s trade line under its Dove imprint, and Gray Peterson, VP of Sales/Marketing, will now add Associate Publisher, Children’s Books to his responsibilities. He was formerly VP Sales, Mass Market at Scholastic.

Claudia Boutote announced that Laina Adler has been promoted to Director of Marketing at HarperOne.

At Crown Business, Publicity Director Tara Bilbride will serve as Publicity Director of Broadway Business. Liz Hazelton is leaving the company to join Fortier Public Relations.

At Simon & Schuster, Alexis Welby has been promoted to Associate Director of Publicity, and Julia Prosser has been promoted to Senior Publicity Manager.

Ten Speed Press acting Publisher Aaron Wehner has been formally named to the job, reporting to Crown Publishing Group President Jenny Frost. Wehner joined Ten Speed in 1997.

DULY NOTED

Ingram Marketing Group announced the results of an industry survey on e- vs. print catalogs. Over 49% of respondents, a “tremendous increase” over last year, are willing to use e-catalogs in place of print, as long as they include features like a shopping list function and point-of-sale download capabilities. About 60% of respondents have already used an e-catalog. Over 80% of the 2,500 survey participants were either librarians or independent booksellers.

The Hay House New York office has moved. Its new address is 250 Park Avenue South, Suite 201, New York, NY 10003. E-mail addresses will stay the same, but phone numbers have changed: Phone: (646) 484-4950, fax: (646)484-4956.

The Kids Licensing Forum, which ran for one day following the Bologna Children’s Book Fair this year, is expanding to a full three-day event in 2010, concurrent with the Book Fair from March 23–25.

UPCOMING EVENTS

There will be a memorial service for Eden Ross Lipson on June 13 at 1:30 at The Century Club, 7 W. 43rd Street, New York, NY. To leave a condolence note in the guestbook, go here.

IN MEMORIAM

Craig Virden, former head of Random House Children’s Books and most recently a literary agent with his wife, Nancy Gallt, died on May 6. His memorial service took place on May 27 at St. Peter’s Church.

There are so many changes to report this month that we are highlighting only some of the moves and, where available, contact information. Rebecca (Becky) Saletan has been appointed Editorial Director of Riverhead, reporting to Publisher Geoff Kloske. She was most recently SVP and Publisher of Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. Her appointment is effective March 2; meanwhile, she is reachable at rebecca dot saletan at earthlink dot net.

Jon Anderson, President and Publisher of Running Press, has joined Simon & Schuster as EVP and Publisher of S&S Children’s Publishing, reporting to S&S CEO Carolyn Reidy.

There have been ongoing reorganizations at Random House, Knopf, and Crown. Janice Goldklang, Publisher of Pantheon, was let go after 30 years and may be reached at janicegoldklang at gmail dot com. Jack Perry was laid off from Random, where he was Director of Sales Marketing, and may be reached at jackperry38 at hotmail dot com. According to the New York Observer, four editors were also laid off: Random House’s Modern Library editor Judy Sternlight, Villard’s Bruce Tracy, Ballantine’s West Coast–based Anika Streitfeld, and Liz Scheier. Longtime Bantam Dell Business Manager John de Beaumont and Paul Kozlowski, former VP Director Sales Marketing Random Adult, have left and Paul may be reached at pekoz at mac dot com. Judy Pray has left Clarkson Potter after one year and can be reached at jpray24 at gmail dot com. She was previously with Black Dog & Leventhal. Meanwhile, Sharon Swados, who was VP Director of Sub Rights at Bantam Dell and was laid off in December, may be reached at szswados at yahoo dot com.

Joe Monti, former Director of Paperbacks at Hachette, has left the company. He may be reached at [e-mail info at publishingtrends dot com for number].

Steve Black has left Oxmoor House’s New York office, where he was Director of Sales. He joined Oxmoor in June 2008.

Editor-in-Chief Sara Nelson has been laid off from Publishers Weekly and may be reached at snwriter at aol dot com or [e-mail info at publishingtrends dot com for number]. Executive Editor Daisy Maryles has also left and may be reached at daisymaryles at yahoo dot com. Bookselling editor Kevin Howell and Director of Business Development Rachel Dicker are also departing. School Library Journal editor-in-chief Brian Kenney was named to the new position of Editorial Director for the group, comprising SLJ, Library Journal, and PW.

Nicole Dewey has been named Director of Publicity at Holt. She was Associate Director of Publicity at
Doubleday and replaces Claire McKinney, who left in December.

Karyn Gerhard has joined Penguin as Senior Acquisitions Editor for the Alpha imprint, formerly a division of Pearson Education. She was at Bulfinch. Meanwhile, Vanessa Mobley, Senior Editor at the Penguin Press, has left the company. She may be reached at vanessamobley at gmail dot com.

Barnes & Noble terminated about 100 people, including Steve Magnusson and Editorial Director of Union Square Press Philip Turner, who may be reached at philipsturner at gmail dot com or [e-mail info at publishingtrends dot com for number]. Meanwhile, BarnesandNoble.com, which has been operating without a CEO since Marie Toulantis left in August, has hired a President, Bill Lynch. From 2004 to 2008, he was CEO and co-founder of gifts.com.

At Chronicle, Debra Lande, Business Development Director, has been laid off. She may be reached at landedebra at gmail dot com.

At Workman, Glenn D’Agnes has been named Chief Administrative Officer. He was COO of HarperCollins. Melissa Possick has been named Marketing Director. Amy Corley has moved back to Artisan as Publicity Director.

Angus Killick, who was School and Library Marketing Director at Disney Publishing Worldwide, has joined Macmillan’s Kingfisher as Associate Publisher, a new position, reporting to UK Publishing Director Martina Challis. Killick takes control of all US publishing, marketing, and sales and is based in New York.

Vivian Chum has joined Prospect Agency as an agent.

Lonely Planet has appointed Matthew Goldberg as CEO as of March, reporting to BBC Worldwide Managing Director of Global Brands Marcus Arthur and based in Melbourne, Australia. He was SVP, Digital Strategy & Ops at Dow Jones, where he led business operations at the Wall Street Journal Digital Network.

Steven Sayre has resigned from Ingram. He has joined medical publisher IARS in San Francisco to run its print/online content programs.

Lindley Boegehold has joined Abrams as Director of Custom, Proprietary, and Calendar Publishing. She has been consulting at Abrams, following her departure from Random Media.

Shardul Kothari has left HMH Publishing, where he was VP, Sales in the International Division. He may be reached at shardul at netvigator dot com.

PROMOTIONS AND INTERNAL CHANGES

Wendy Sheanin has been promoted to Director of Marketing, Adult at S&S.

John R. Ingram, Chairman of the Ingram Content companies, announced that James Gray has been named Chief Strategy Officer for the Content Group. Gray was most recently the President and CEO of Ingram Digital. Mike Lovett, the former CEO of Ingram Book Group and most recently SVP of Ingram Digital, is the new CEO of Ingram Digital.

Sterling has promoted Sharmilla Sinanan to the newly created position of Senior Manager, Marketing Services (formerly the ad/promo department). Simone Gibbs was promoted to the position of Marketing Coordinator.

At Trident Media Group, Alanna Ramirez has been promoted to agent. She was audio rights agent and special assistant to Robert Gottlieb. Elizabeth Kellogg has been promoted to audio rights agent.

Cindy Eagan has been named Executive Editorial Director for the Poppy imprint at Little, Brown Children’s.

Christina Amini and Steve Mockus have both been named Senior Editor at Chronicle.

DULY NOTED

comScore reported that the total global Internet audience (age 15 and older, from home and work computers) surpassed one billion visitors in December 2008. The Asia-Pacific region accounted for the highest share of global Internet users, at 41%, followed by Europe (28% share), North America (18%), Latin America (7%), and the Middle East and Africa (5%). China represented the largest online audience from one country, with 180 million Internet users, representing nearly 18% of the total worldwide Internet audience.

Booksonline, parent company to over 20 of North America’s leading book clubs including Book-of-the-Month Club, Black Expressions, The Good Cook, and Mystery Guild, has dropped the controversial “Negative Option” method from its business practice. On January 7, all book clubs belonging to the Booksonline family switched to the new operational policy.

IN MEMORIAM

Arcade Publishing Founder and Publisher Dick Seaver’s memorial service will take place Thursday, February 12, at 5 PM at All Souls Unitarian Church (1157 Lexington Ave., between 79th and 80th Sts).

A memorial service for critic, editor, and novelist John Leonard will be held on Monday, March 2 at 6 PM at Landmark on the Park (160 Central Park West). Along with family members, Gloria Steinem, Toni Morrison, and Victor Navasky are among the participants.

In the Random House reorganization, which moved Bantam to RHPG, Irwyn Applebaum has left, as has Bantam Dell Group SVP, Director of Creative Marketing, Betsy Hulsebosch. She may be reached at (914) 772-1022. Barb Burg, SVP Executive Director Publicity and PR, will also be leaving, after 24 years, on January 30. She may be reached at barbburg [at] gmail.com. Meanwhile, reportedly a total of over 40 (out of about 120) people have left Doubleday and Broadway, including Nicole Dewey in publicity and Becky Cole in editorial.

Claire Tisne, who was RH Sub Rights Director under Gina Centrello, is leaving, as is Sharon Swados from the Bantam Dell Sub Rights group; their duties will be taken over by Rebecca Gardner, who had been with Doubleday. Gardner, who reports to Sonny Mehta, heads the sub rights department that includes Lisa George from Bantam, Rachel Kind from Ballantine, and Joelle Dieu from Little Random.

A note of cheer comes from the announcement that Susan Kamil has accepted the position of SVP and EIC of the RH imprint of RHPG while continuing as Editorial Director of the Dial Press. She will be in charge of the Random House Editorial department and SVP Editorial Director Jennifer Hershey now reports to her. Kate Medina, EVP, Executive Editorial Director, and Associate Publisher of Random House, and Bob Loomis, EVP and Executive Editor, continue to report to Centrello.

Herb Schaffner has left McGraw-Hill Professional, where he was Publisher of Business and Finance, and may be reached at schaffnerh [at] gmail.com.

Many changes in children’s publishing: Rick Richter and Rubin Pfeffer have left S&S Children’s; earlier Ginny Seo had resigned from S&S Children’s. Meanwhile, Mary McGrath has joined as Director of DSRM, Children’s Sales, reporting to Mary Marotta. She had been at Random House for 17 years and was most recently Director of Sales, adult mass merchandise.

Bill Boedeker has left Chronicle, where he was Publishing Director, Children’s Books.

Kathy Dawson joined Penguin’s Dial BYR in the new position of Associate Publisher, reporting to Lauri Hornik. Dawson was formerly Editorial Director at Harcourt Children’s.

At Holt, President and Publisher Dan Farley will oversee the new Macmillan Children’s Group as well. Jean Feiwel and Simon Boughton have been both appointed SVP Publishing Directors of the group, with Feiwel running Feiwel and Friends, Square Fish, Priddy Books, and Holt BYR, and Boughton running FSG BYR, Roaring Brook Press, and First Second. Michael Eisenberg, co-publisher of FSG BYR, has left the company, as have Melanie Kroupas and her imprint.

FSG Sub Rights Director Michael Hathaway has left, as the rights department is being merged with Holt’s under Denise Cronin, and their production team will be integrated into a much larger central unit. Among those cut out of the editorial department are Associate Publisher Linda Rosenberg, who oversaw both the classics line and the paperback operation, and Senior Editor Denise Oswald, who started at the company as an assistant.

Selina Cicogna Meere has left Crown to become Associate Director of Publicity at Workman.

Houghton Mifflin Harcourt SVP and Publisher of Adult Trade Becky Saletan has resigned. There was no further comment beyond confirmation from the company.

Erin Canning has joined Quirk Packaging as Editor. She was previously senior sales analyst at Random House.

Craig Virden, a former President and Publisher of RH BYR, will officially join his wife at the Nancy Gallt Literary Agency as of January 1. Virden will spend most of his time in the “back office” business of contracts and royalties.

Melanie Donovan has been named Senior Acquisitions Editor at Recorded Books. She had been Executive Editor at HarperCollins Children’s Books.

Former Rodale Books President Tami Booth Corwin has joined SparkPeople.com (part of Steve Case’s Revolution Health Network) as EVP of Publishing and Content, just as the company has struck its first book deal with Hay House.

Agent Elise Proulx notes that her new job will be Marketing and Outreach Coordinator for the eScholarship Publishing Group at the California Digital Library, University of California.

Lori Burke has moved over from DK to Penguin YRG in the dual role of Director of Licensing for Grosset & Dunlap/PSS and US Brand Manager for Warne, managing the merchandise relationship with licensing agents Chorion and Wildflower. She had been Director of Marketing for DK Children’s Books and Licensing.

PROMOTIONS AND INTERNAL CHANGES

Dan Halpern announced that Rachel Bressler, Associate Publisher of Ecco, has been named Vice President.

At Tor, Phyllis Azar has moved up from ad/promo Director to Executive Director of Marketing; Patty Garcia from Associate Director of Publicity to Director of Publicity; Brian Vaughan from Marketing Manager to Director of Publishing Operations; Joseph Bendel from Assistant Sales/Marketing Manager to Manager of Publishing Operations; and Jennifer Kaufler from Marketing Coordinator to Marketing Manager.

At RH Audio, Rebecca Waugh has been promoted to senior acquisitions editor for Listening Library.

UPCOMING EVENTS

Two NBCC events in 2009: On January 24 at 7 p.m. at the Housing Works Bookstore Café, announcers Sam Anderson (winner of the 2007 Balakian Award), Bill Henderson of Pushcart Press, Mary Jo Bang (winner of the 2007 Poetry award), Harriet Washington (winner of the 2007 nonfiction award), Alex Ross (winner of the 2007 criticism award), and others will announce the NBCC Awards finalists. The event will be hosted by NBCC President Jane Ciabattari. The night before, also at Housing Works, there will be a Poetry in Translation panel, “Has the U.S. Lost Touch with World Literature?” For more information, go to www.bookcritics.org.

The 4th Annual San Miguel de Allende, Mexico, Writers’ Conference & Literary Festival takes place from February 20 to 22, 2009. For more information, go to www.sanmiguelauthors.com and www.sanmiguelworkshops.com.

The American Book Producers Association BookBuilding 2.0 seminar has been rescheduled for March 10, 2009 from 9 a.m. 6 p.m. at The Players. The morning session will focus on the essentials of developing and producing books, and the afternoon will feature two panels: “The Internet and Electronic Publishing,” moderated by Carolyn Pittis of HarperCollins, and “What’s Next?: Trends in Publishing,” moderated by Barbara Marcus of Penguin Young Readers Group. For more information, e-mail office [at] abpaonline.org.

Hachette Book Group has hired Kenneth Michaels as Chief Operating Officer. He succeeds Beth Ford, who left in September, and will join the company on January 5. He was most recently SVP of Global Business Process Management for the McGraw-Hill Companies.

Marie Coolman will join Hyperion as Executive Director of Publicity, taking over the position recently vacated by Beth Gebhard, who left to relocate to LA to work for the new Oprah Winfrey Network. Coolman had been Director of Publicity and Marketing for Hudson Street Press, and was previously West Coast Director of Publicity at Random House….Tina Andreadis announced that Kate Blum joins HarperCollins Publicity as Associate Director. She spent her eight-year career at Random House….Samantha Choy joins the Crown publicity department as Senior Publicist. She comes from W. W. Norton.

Lots of changes internationally: Quercus CEO Mark Smith announced that Anthony Cheetham has relinquished his role as Executive Chairman after two years, becoming Non-Executive Chairman immediately. The announcement comes in the wake of former Macmillan MD David North’s appointment as Managing Director….Michael Moynahan has been named HarperCollins’s new CEO for Australia and New Zealand. Moynahan was MD, Random House India, and chairman, Random House New Zealand.

Webster Younce has joined Henry Holt as a Senior Editor, reporting to Editor-in-Chief Marjorie Braman. He was most recently Senior Editor at Houghton Mifflin.

In children’s books: Corinne Helman will become VP of Digital Publishing and Business Development for HarperCollins Children’s Books. She was most recently VP Business Development at Scholastic. Sarah Shumway has joined the Katherine Tegen Books imprint at Harper Children’s as Senior Editor, acquiring primarily middle-grade and YA fiction. She had been at Dutton Children’s….Namrata Tripathi will join Atheneum Children’s as Executive Editor. She was most recently Senior Editor at Hyperion Children’s. Additionally, Associate Editor Lisa Cheng will move from Margaret K. McEldery to Atheneum, reporting to Tripathi….Greg Ferguson, formerly of HarperCollins Children’s Books, will join Egmont USA as Editor, reporting to Publisher Elizabeth Law. Nico Medina joined as Managing Editor. Most recently, he was Production Editor at Viking Children’s and Puffin.

Camille March has been appointed to the position of Editor at Black Dog & Leventhal, reporting to Elizabeth Van Doren. Most recently, March was at Weinstein Books as Associate Director of Publicity.

Carrie Thornton will move to Dutton on December 1 as Executive Editor. She was most recently Publishing Manager and Senior Editor at Crown/Three Rivers Press….Don Weise has been named Publisher of Alyson Books. He had been Senior Editor at Carroll & Graf….Matt Weiland has joined Ecco as a Senior Editor. He has been Deputy Editor of The Paris Review for the past two years and is the co-author of State by State (Ecco).

Langenscheidt has named Nel Yomtov as Executive Editor of Hammond, reporting to Langenscheidt’s chief Sales and Marketing officer Michele Martin. Most recently, he was Editorial Director at the Rosen Publishing Group. He will also work on a new series for Langenscheidt.

Amanda Tobier has joined Little, Brown as Marketing Manager. She was most recently marketing director for Avery and Viking Studio.

Among the recent Rodale layoffs was Andrew R. Malkin, VP, Trade Book Sales. He may be reached at armalkin [at]  gmail.com.

Bookspan parent company Direct Brands announced that Senior Director of Communications Paula Batson has left the company to pursue other opportunities. She will continue to consult for them. Melinda Meals has taken her place.

Michael Schluter has been named Senior Director of Sales at Palgrave Macmillan. He was previously Director of Library Sales at Sage.

Laura Ross has joined Jill Grinberg Literary Management. Jenny Rappaport is leaving the L. Perkins Agency to start the Rappaport Agency. Lori Perkins will continue with her agency and has promoted Marsha Philitas to senior agent.

Betty Wong has been hired as an editor at Clarkson Potter’s Potter Craft. She was at Melcher Media.

PROMOTIONS AND INTERNAL CHANGES

Kim Hovey was named Associate Publisher of Random House Trade Paperbacks, reporting to Jane Von Mehren and continuing to report to Libby McGuire, Associate Publisher of Ballantine. Sanyu Dillon, as Director of Marketing, will now oversee the marketing/advertising/promotion efforts and staff for RHPG, continuing to report to Tom Perry, Deputy Publisher.

Elda Rotor has been promoted to Editorial Director at Penguin Classics. Rotor arrived at Penguin in 2006 from Oxford University Press.

Philip Patrick announced that Jay Sones has moved from Crown to Three Rivers Press as Marketing Manager, reporting to Donna Passannante. Kira Walton has been named Associate Marketing Director for Harmony and Shaye Areheart Books. Vicki Tomao has been named Advertising and Promotion Manager. She started as Patrick’s assistant in 2004. Jennifer Reierson has been named Senior Designer. She joined the company in 2000. Sarah Breivogel has been named Publicity Manager for Shaye Areheart Books and Selina Cicogna has been named Publicity Manager for Clarkson Potter.

Kevin Callahan has been promoted to Associate Director of Marketing at HarperCollins.

Michelle Brower has been promoted to Agent at Wendy Sherman Associates.

DULY NOTED
Nielsen BookScan announced that beginning in the first week of 2009, Hudson Group will join BookScan’s reporting panel. Hudson Group will report sales from their Hudson News and Hudson Booksellers locations in airports and train and bus terminals. Sales data will appear under the “retail” store strata.

UPCOMING EVENTS
The 21st Annual Independent and Small Press Book Fair will take place at their headquarters on 20 W. 44th Street, New York, NY on December 6 from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. and December 7 from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. For more information, go to http://www.nycip.org/bookfair.

Two NBCC events in 2009: On January 24 at 7 p.m. at the Housing Works Bookstore Café, announcers Sam Anderson (winner of the 2007 Balakian Award), Bill Henderson of Pushcart Press, Mary Jo Bang (winner of the 2007 Poetry award), Harriet Washington (winner of the 2007 nonfiction award), Alex Ross (winner of the 2007 criticism award), and others will announce the NBCC Awards finalists. The event will be hosted by NBCC President Jane Ciabattari. The night before, also at Housing Works, there will be a Poetry in Translation panel, “Has the U.S. Lost Touch with World Literature?” For more information, go to www.bookcritics.org.

The 4th Annual San Miguel de Allende, Mexico, Writers’ Conference & Literary Festival takes place from February 20 to 22, 2009. For more information, go to www.sanmiguelauthors.com and www.sanmiguelworkshops.com.

The American Book Producers Association BookBuilding 2.0 seminar has been rescheduled for March 10, 2009 from 9 a.m. 6 p.m. at The Players. The morning session will focus on the essentials of developing and producing books, and the afternoon will feature two panels: “The Internet and Electronic Publishing,” moderated by Carolyn Pittis of HarperCollins, and “What’s Next?: Trends in Publishing,” moderated by Barbara Marcus of Penguin Young Readers Group. For more information, e-mail office at abpaonline dot org.

JUST FOR FUN

Webster’s New World® College Dictionary announced the top five candidates for the 2008 “Word of the Year,” which will be selected by editors and researchers at Webster’s and announced during a national radio satellite tour on December 1. The top candidates are overshare, leisure sickness, cyberchondriac, selective ignorance, and youthanasia. Vote at www.newworldword.com.

Doubleday has eliminated 16 positions across all of the group’s imprints, in the editorial, marketing, publicity, art, and ad promo departments. Those leaving include editor Jennifer Josephy; Janet Silver, Nan Talese, Editor at Large; and from Spiegel & Grau, senior editor Tina Pohlman, Director of Publicity Gretchen Koss, Director of Marketing Megan Walker, and Walker’s assistant.

DK’s Rough Guides editorial department has been transferred back to the UK. (As many as 14 people are rumored to have left the company.) DK Eyewitness Travel and Rough Guides Marketing Director Geoff Colquitt’s job has been eliminated; all DK Adult Marketing now falls under Judy Powers. Geoff Colquitt may be reached at gcolquitt [at] mac.com or (914) 699-6998.

Hachette is merging its Orbit (SF) and Yen (graphic novel) imprints into a new division called Orbit. Tim Holman will run it as VP and Publisher. Co-publisher Kurt Hassler will now report to Holman and Rich Johnson will be leaving the company. He may be reached at rjhnzn [at] yahoo. com. Alex Lencicki, who was also at Orbit, will remain Marketing and Publicity Director for the new division.

Toni Sciarra, most recently an Executive Editor at HarperCollins and previously at Morrow and Simon & Schuster, is offering editorial and consulting services on nonfiction projects. She can be reached at tonionemail [at] yahoo.com or (212) 628-4072.

Karen Hansgen has been named Associate Publisher of the newly formed Skira-Rizzoli International Publications, which will focus on museum-related publishing. She was Publications Director at The New Museum.

As noted elsewhere, Little, Brown editor Reagan Arthur received her own imprint, Reagan Arthur Books, where she will be VP, Editorial Director and continue to report to Geoff Shandler.

Dan Weiss has left Barnes & Noble, where he was most recently Publisher and Managing Director of Quamut.com. Previously, he had run the company’s Sparknotes division. He may be reached at dweissco [at] gmail.com or (917) 613-7713.

Dick Robinson announced that Seth Radwell is leaving Scholastic, following the sale of Scholastic at Home this past summer. He was President of eScholastic and had managed Scholastic at Home since 2007.

Nancy Hancock has joined HarperOne as Executive Editor and Becky Cabaza has been named Editor at Large. Both report directly to Editorial Director Mickey Maudlin. Hancock was most recently Executive Editor at Rodale. Becky Cabaza, former Editorial Director of Three Rivers Press and most recently a freelance editor and ghostwriter, will continue to work from her home office. She can be reached at (973) 280-2429 or becky.cabaza [at] harpercollins.com. Shawn Nicholls has joined Collins as Director of Online Marketing. Nicholls comes from Crown, where he managed online marketing. And Matt Weiland is joining Ecco as Senior Editor. Most recently, he was Deputy Editor of The Paris Review.

Jed Donahue is leaving Crown Forum to become Editor-in-Chief of ISI Books and VP of Publications for the Intercollegiate Studies Institute in Delaware. Meanwhile, Campbell Wharton returns to Crown to take over as Publicity Director. . . . Hyperion’s Executive Director of Publicity Beth Gebhard has relocated to LA to work in the communications department of the new Oprah Winfrey Network. Marie Coolman takes her place. . . . Andrea Glickson has been named Director of Publicity and Marketing at Octopus USA, reporting to Jonathan Stolper. She was at Watson-Guptill. . . . Kim Small is the new Publicity Director for Watson-Guptill and Potter Craft. She was Executive Publicist at Workman. And Emily Takoudes joins Clarkson Potter as a senior editor, reporting to Editorial Director Doris Cooper. She was at Ecco.

Ginee Seo, VP and Editorial Director of her eponymous imprint at Atheneum at S&S, is leaving the company. Her future titles will be published under the Atheneum imprint.

Lisa Herling has been named SVP of Corporate Communications at Cengage Learning. She previously worked at HarperCollins as SVP, Director of Corporate Communications.

Belinda Rasmussen has been named Managing Director of the Carlton Publishing Group. She was Business Development Director for Egmont UK.

Bill Huelster has been hired as the Senior Director, Online Sales and Special Markets at Kaplan Publishing. He was most recently at Random House.

O’Reilly Media announced that Joe Wikert has joined the company as General Manager, O’Reilly Technology Exchange. He was VP and Executive Publisher of Professional/Trade, Wiley.

Charles Nurnberg, former CEO of Sterling, has founded Imagine Publishing. Nurnberg has teamed with Peter Yarrow of Peter, Paul & Mary to form an eponymous imprint. Imagine will be distributed by BookMasters (BDS). In a separate announcement, BDS welcomed former PGW President Rich Freese as President of BDA and Atlas Books, which will continue to operate independently. Jeremy Nurnberg, formerly Sterling VP of Trade and Institutional Sales (and Charlie Nurnberg’s son), has been hired as the new VP Sales.

Matthew Lore has resigned from his position as VP Executive Editor, Da Capo Press. He can be reached at matthew.lore.email [at] gmail.com.

David Moldawer has joined Portfolio/Penguin as an editor, reporting to Adrian Zackheim. He was at St. Martin’s. Tim Sullivan departed earlier in the month for Basic Books. . . . Jordan Brown has been hired as Editor, Walden Pond Press, an imprint of HC Children’s Books. Brown started his publishing career at S&S Children’s Publishing.

Michael Broussard has created iSB New Media, a multimedia talent platform/literary agency based in LA. He was formerly an agent at Dupree/Miller and editor at Simon Spotlight Entertainment.

PROMOTIONS AND INTERNAL CHANGES
Cofounder of Weldon Owen, John Owen, has been named Group Publisher of Bonnier Publishing, which comprises nine companies in the US, UK, Australia, New Zealand, and France. With this promotion, Terry Newell goes from President of WO U.S. to CEO. Sheena Coupe has also been promoted to CEO and runs the WO Australia operation. They both report directly to Des Higgins at Bonnier UK.

John Fagan, who wears a substantial number of sales and marketing hats at Penguin, is adding Plume and Hudson Street Press to his portfolio. He will have help from Liz Keenan, who has been named Publicity Director for both imprints.

At Holt’s Metropolitan Books, Sara Bershtel has been promoted to VP Publisher. Elsewhere at Holt, Karen Frangipane has been hired as Director of Marketing for Holt Children’s. She was at S&S.

Susan Canavan has been promoted to Executive Editor in Houghton Mifflin Harcourt’s trade and reference division.

Annsley Rosner has been named publicity director at Crown and Shaye Areheart. She had been Publicity Director at Harmony and Three Rivers Press. . . . At Harper, Leslie Cohen has been promoted to Executive Director of Publicity and Jane Beirn to Senior Director.

Jennifer Hunt has been promoted to Editorial Director of Little, Brown Children’s.

UPCOMING EVENTS
CLMP’s annual Spelling Bee will take place on Monday, November 3 at Diane von Furstenberg’s studio. She will host the event. Contact jlependorf@clmp.org.

Esther Margolis, Founder and Publisher of Newmarket Press, will be honored with the New York Center for Independent Publishing’s Poor Richard Award at the Center’s Annual Benefit and Cocktail Reception. November 10, from 6 to 8 PM, at 20 W. 44th St.

IN MEMORIAM
Dan Harvey, a longtime book publishing executive, passed away on October 23, 2008 after a long struggle with melanoma. Harvey was most recently Senior VP, Director of Marketing for Trident Media Group, a literary agency. A memorial service will be held on Thursday, Nov. 20 at 6 PM at the Bruno Walter Auditorium, NYPL for the Performing Arts at Lincoln Center, 111 Amsterdam Ave. at 65th St.

WE HEAR WEDDING BELLS!
Constance Sayre, a founding partner of MPI, married Gilman Park on October 12. The family-only ceremony took place in the garden of her brother’s home in Chiswick, London. They have been significant others for 16 years. Mr. Park is President of Hudson Park Press. Ms. Sayre will continue to use her maiden name.