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.

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.

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.

PEOPLE

Maureen Golden is leaving Workman Publishing at the end of May, after less than nine months in the company. Golden was previously at B&N. . . Also leaving in late May is Paula Duffy, who has been Publisher of The Free Press for the last three years, to become Director of the University of Chicago Press effective August 1. Meanwhile Senior Editor Paul Golob is leaving The Free Press to join the staff of The New York Times as an editor on the op-ed page. His responsibilities will include assigning, soliciting, and editing pieces to appear in the NYT. Ever since it became known that Doreen Carvajal was leaving the Times book beat for the culture desk and that Dave Smith was looking for a replacement, it seems as though she’s been writing more than ever. When called for an update, Smith gave a jovial “no comment.” . . . Steve Zeitchik will be leaving PW Daily and moving to San Francisco to be an editor at the Industry Standard.

Michael Fragnito, most recently at Viking Penguin, has gone to B&N to oversee ebooks. Meanwhile, Christopher Sweet was named Editor in Chief of Viking Studio. He was previously Executive Editor. . . Lisa Rasmussen has been appointed President and Publisher of Dorchester Publishing. She was previously Director of Sales at Avon.

Frances Coady, who is currently running Picador UK, will be the new chief of Picador US (subject to a green card, presumably), replacing George Witte. . . Angus Killick has been named VP Marketing for the Penguin Putnam Young Readers Division, replacing Audrey Cusson, who has left to run a bookstore in Woodstock, NY (see PT 4/00). He recently joined the company, after working for DK Ink. Sandee Yuen, former Associate Director of Publicity at Doubleday, has been named Director of Marketing and Publicity at Bloomsbury USA. . . Tony Chirico has been appointed to the newly created position of EVP, COO of the Knopf Publishing Group, giving him a greater role in the group’s imprints. He was previously EVP, Director of Operations. . . Libby McGuire was named Publishing Manager at Little Random. She was national Accounts Manager at S&S. . . .

Steven Sussman, most recent of Exley Giftbooks, has established Sonschein Sales with Paul Sheinberg of Granddreams. They will be selling 30 proprietary titles into the retail marketplace for display marketer DSMaxx. They will also represent titles from Tormont and Robert Frederick, as well as Granddreams and their own imprint, Better Than Broccoli Books, and have established their own sales force and will service all levels of retail (mass market, drugstores, traditional trade, etc.).

VIRTUAL PEOPLE

Long time Amazon.com fixture, and now mom-to-be Mary Engstrom Morouse has left the company. Meanwhile, Carl Gish, formerly general manager (with Libby Johnson McKee) of books has moved on to consumer electronics. Libby is sailing around the world with her husband. Lyn Blake has taken over the books business and, sources tell us, is doing a great job. Speaking of sources, the Daily News reports that Jeff Bezos has bought an apartment on Central Park West, NYC, for a modest $7.5 mil.

Jack Hoeft, former CEO of Bantam Doubleday Dell, is now President and CEO of MedHelp.com, a b2b site in the healthcare field. . . Becky Michaels, asst Dir of Advertising and Promotion at Little Brown has just resigned to join perksforyou.com, which launches in August. . . Justin Schwartz, formerly of HarperCollins, has become Senior Editor at Lechters.com, the offshoot of the housewares store whose CEO is now David Cully from B&N. . . David Hisbrook is at Xlibris. He was most recently at B&N.

DEALS

Hyperion’s Leigh Haber topped Ballantine in an auction for the novel Carter Beats the Devil, which agent Susan Golomb sold for a cool $687,500 . . . Co-authors Matt Drudge and Julia Phillips engineered their $300,000 deal with NAL’s Louise Burke by themselves, as, according to Phillips, their agents didn’t “get” it. Sources from the house reportedly said the ms was “too hip, too funny” (although the reader admitted not being familiar with The Drudge Report). Also rumored is a minimum 50,000 first printing with the in-house assertion that it should be a LOT higher as pub date approaches and the terrible twosome bring their own marketing skills to bear. . . .

The Rights Report says Ebury Press will publish a book by Mark McCrum on Castaway 2000, the original BBC television series about a group of volunteers who spend a year on the remote island of Taransay. The series has a UK viewership of nine million, and is the model for several US shows being spawned on equally remote islands. Julian Alexander at Lucas Alexander Whitley sold the book for a “six figure” sum.

Holt’s Denise Cronin reports that after Stacy Schiff won the Pulitzer for Vera, UK rights to Ben Franklin in Paris, Schiff’s next magnum opus, have been sold to Bloomsbury. There were seven publishers in the auction, which ended with four of them submitting sealed bids, with Bloomsbury topping them all.

DULY NOTED

As though buying A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius for the most $$ Vintage has ever paid for a reprint ($1.4 mil.) weren’t enough, Marty Asher, Editor in Chief of Vintage, now gets to experience being a Knopf publishee. His own novel, Boomer, comes out May 10, with a first run of 25,000, and second serial rights have already been sold to Modern Maturity (no joke — they claim a readership of 20 million). A tour is planned, and in New York and Chicago Asher will be joined by Chip Kyd, who designed and illustrated the book. It is, btw, a must see/must read. . .

Books Update from NYTimes.com is a new email that will be sent out weekly to registrants. The email includes NYTBR highlights, book-related news, and links to book-related features at nytimes.com (audio interviews with authors, first chapters, etc.), and will include information about new books coming into the stores. Register at http://email. nytimes.com.

Themestream hopes to be the Internet’s source for articles, information, and gear related to consumers’ personal interests. Part vanity epublisher, part clipping service, and part etailer (hence the “gear”), the site claims to have 1,700 topic areas. It’s got close ties to Netscape (the management team came from there), and S&S as an early content source.

PARTIES

Francine Prose celebrated the publication of her new novel — an academic satire called Blue Angel (yes, like the movie, which plays a role in the plot) — at, where else, the University Club. Our correspondent writes that Prose was surrounded by a host of media types — Vanity Fair’s Wayne Lawson, Elle’s Pat Tower, the TBR’s Michael Anderson, The Daily News’ Celia McGee, Inside.com’s Sara Nelson — as well as authors Patricia Bosworth, Honor Moore, A.M. Homes, and Robert Polito. Notable in her absence was Prose’s longtime editor Sarah Bershtel — well, longtime until agent Denise Shannon moved Prose to Robert Jones of HarperCollins. Prose’s numbers have apparently improved dramatically.

MAZELTOV

To Wendy Weil, on a Big Birthday, and many more to come! The agent who boasts among her authors Alice Walker and Fannie Flagg celebrated in style with a party which included clients and friends. And happy birthday to agent Robin Straus, also celebrating an important decade (not the same one, though) in style.

WE DIDN’T KNOW WE NEEDED THEM

Four technologies we discovered in April: HP’s PocketPC Jornada, the newly introduced Palm-sized Windows CE-run handheld. The Clear Type we’ve been hearing so much about makes reading a breeze. . . Unlike earlier iterations, the CardScan 500 for Palm Pilots and PCs picks up data accurately, and displays it in the original format in the electronic rolodex it creates in your PC. However, when you want to transfer it to your handheld, the data is reformatted to conform to that program’s fields. . . Vindigo is a free application that was created with the NYT’s online site, New York Today. Download this to your Palm Pilot and every time you hot sync, info on restaurants, movies, shopping, etc. is updated. . . Publisherslunch.com was launched this month by Michael Cader of Cader Books, with useful links to the book pages of newspapers and magazines; publishing stories; and top news items. There are, however, some egregious typos, including the misspelling of the publishing industry’s trade journal, listed here as “Publishers Weakly.”