Remember this term: Peer39 explained semantic search, which improves search accuracy by understanding searcher intent and the context within which search terms appear.

The 3 million iPads sold as of June were a major topic of discussion at two conferences this month: The Big Money’s Untethered 2010: Profitable Media in the Tablet Era, and the Digital Publishing and Advertising Conference. Untethered was aimed more directly at book publishers, and its “Future of Book Publishing” panel included publishing head honchos like Simon & Schuster CEO Carolyn Reidy, HarperCollins CEO Brian Murray, and Perseus CEO David Steinberger. But the session covered no new ground, and perhaps its only real surprise was Murray’s estimate that 40–50% of HarperCollins’s business will be digital within the next five years. Meanwhile, DPAC’s audience and panels contained few familiar faces, and its sessions moved beyond piracy and e-book pricing to provide some refreshingly new takeaways for book publishers.

BUYING REAL SHOES WITH FAKE MONEY. ON FACEBOOK.

Just got around to creating a page for your company on Facebook? Sorry: Fan pages are “very 2009,” said Lisa Marino, CRO of RockYou. Facebook now has over 400 million users sharing over 25 billion pieces of content every month, and publishers must be on top of the really new trends. First, recognize the importance of social gaming—playing games within Facebook. The three most popular games are all made by Zynga: Farmville has over 18 million daily active users, followed by Texas Hold’em Poker (5.5 million daily active users) and Treasure Isle (5.1 million daily active users). Facebook has made a “huge commitment” to social gaming—outsourcing gaming on the platform but aggressively growing it. 17 of the top 20 games are dominated by women. 76% of women play electronic games and most of them are within the “mom demo,” 35–50-year-old women who just happen to control the household pocketbook (and have always been the group that reads and buys the most books). This demographic plays games between two and three times a day, spending up to 20 minutes playing, and is a “captive audience” that brands can work with, Marino said. Furthermore, the affluent and urban are more likely to be on social networks, and the time they spend there is up 82% year on year.

Gamers are willing to engage with brands inside social games, in order to earn the “virtual currency” that allows them to advance. Users can also advance by spending real money—but 97% of social gaming women would rather earn virtual currency. To get it, they accept branded offers (like taking a survey—the most popular option, preferred by 34% of women—watching a video, or downloading a coupon). A 2009 survey from Q Interactive showed that nearly 80% of women playing social games have signed up for offers in exchange for more virtual currency, and 67% of those said they found the offers useful. Marino said the Facebook video ads resulted in a click-through rate in the 0.08-to-0.1% range, a marked improvement over traditional banner ads, which usually have a click-through rate of 0.05% or less.

Facebook has rolled out a “Facebook Credits” pilot program over the last 90 days and is “spending a tremendous amount of effort getting users to be comfortable using virtual currency on the platform” and accustoming them to earn credits by completing tasks like those mentioned above. Brands shouldn’t just think of these credits as in-game virtual currency: Starting in 2011, users will be able to exchange Facebook credits for real products, like shoes, as the Facebook platform will allow inventory uploads. “Getting involved in Facebook credits now will pay off as a strategy down the road,” Marino said.

Companies can engage with the games in other, “non-incentivized” ways as well. RockYou worked on a campaign for Coke inside of the Zoo World game, where users could buy a Coke vending machine for their zoo. Over 2 million vending machines were bought in the first five days of the campaign, and “impression counts for advertisers continue well beyond the flight of the campaign as users keep them in their games,” Marino noted. How about selling a virtual version of a hot new bestseller?

MOBILE > PC

In a panel called “How Do You Make Real Money on Digital Content?” David Mason, SVP, AOL Content Platform, recommended changing the cost structure of content creation. AOL relies on over 40,000 professional freelance writers, photographers, and videographers to create content at a significantly lower cost than if the same were done in-house (plus, as Mason helpfully pointed out, you couldn’t fit 40,000 people in a single office building). But the panel was quickly taken over by discussion of the iPad, a seemingly unavoidable topic these days. Moderator Dave Hendricks, COO of LiveIntent (a company that helps publishers develop engaged audiences on social media platforms), asked panelist Ernie Cormier, CEO of mobile advertising solutions company Nexage, whether Apple or Amazon’s business model is “smarter.” “If you want to take who is on the defense versus who is on the offense as a sign of who’s smarter, Amazon is on the defensive,” said Cormier, pointing to the Kindle’s recent price drop.

Apple is also leading the new transition from content creation for standard broadband internet to content creation for mobile devices, including the iPad (the transition from print to digital is so yesterday). Wired magazine’s iPad edition sold almost exactly the same number of copies in its first month as the print edition. “Does it make sense for businesses to invest in device-specific versions of technology in order to get alternate spending from customers?” Hendricks wondered. Yes, Mason said: “What Wired is doing is the perfect thing to do.”

Mark Weinberg, VP Programming and Product Strategy for Hearst, was crankier. “What Wired did is insane,” he said, calling their app “overly featured and overly expensive” and the iPad itself “a $700 toy.” “Just because people bought [the Wired app] tells you nothing about what the future of that business is going to be. Turning your subscription data over to Apple is not a great model.” What he didn’t mention was that the people buying the Wired app were not necessarily the same people who subscribe to the magazine—and that’s important for book publishers to remember. Creating an app can open up your product to an entirely new audience.

Don’t limit yourself to the iPad, though, cautioned Cormier, who said that publishers could spend the money they’d spend on a single iPad app to reach many other kinds of mobile devices. Within the next year or two, he said, smartphone sales will exceed desktop PC sales, and eventually the total smartphone base will exceed the total computer base. “Make sure your lens is broad enough to take in that whole world out there.” (For more on publishers’ efforts to create mobile content, click here.)

LEGACY MEDIA

“The Next-Generation Digital Content Platforms: Can You Use Just One?” might have been the only session of the day that was primarily about “traditional” (nostalgically referred to as “legacy”) media—i.e., content created primarily for an existing tactile surface. It helped that the panelists were all passionate about their respective media—Doug Carlson, Managing Director of Zinio, about magazines; VP Michael Tamblyn about Kobo; and Barnes & Noble‘s Anthony Astarita about the Nook. Catherine Balsam-Schwaber said iVillage users claim to interact with five separate devices in one day, so it is critical for them to be able to port their content around. “Content should be device-agnostic,” she said. Tamblyn agreed that “your books should be able to follow you.” Carlson noted that Zinio and similar apps allow instant global availability of content. A colleague who runs several ski magazines told Carlson that, while he used to mail those to his subscribers around the world (only 20% of skiers live in the U.S.), now he saves air freight costs—and those subs are receiving their magazine in a timely manner. “You start thinking about a golden age” of publishing, he said.

Tamblyn was interested to see what we would learn about how each device opens up a different book buying audience and how purchase frequency differs between devices and platforms. Balsam-Schwaber mentioned that iVillage is negotiating with publishers on interesting share models that would allow books to be published in the iVillage environment, regardless of device. Nevertheless, Tamblyn noted that content has to be appropriate: “I’m not certain Moby Dick would be better if you put whale sounds in it.”

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 April, Libby McGuire was promoted to SVP, Publisher of the newly formed Ballantine Bantam Dell. As a result of the merged imprints, Nita Taublib has stepped down as EVP, Publisher and Editor-in-Chief of Bantam Dell. In other Random House news, Kendra Harpster is joining the Random House imprint in May as a Senior Editor, reporting to Susan Kamil. She was most recently an editor at Viking. Ranjana Wingender has been promoted to Director, Corporate Development, succeeding Nina von Moltke, who was recently promoted to VP, Digital Publishing Development. Thomas Lueke was appointed Manager, Corporate Development. Milena Albert is promoted to the newly created position of VP, Mergers and Acquisitions. Jaime De Pablos will succeed her as Director, Spanish-Language Publishing, Vintage Español.

Michele Martin has left Langenscheidt, where she was Chief Sales and Marketing Officer, and is now agenting under the rubric MDM Management.

Sean McDonald, who was Executive Editor at Riverhead, has gone to Farrar, Straus & Giroux (which Lorin Stein recently departed) as Executive Editor and Director of Paperback Publishing.

New York Times book publishing reporter Motoko Rich is moving over to the Times’ Business Day section to write about the economy, and will also work with Catherine Rampell, an economics writer who edits the Economix blog, reporting to Winnie O’Kelley.

Pablo Defendini has been named Interactive Producer at Open Road Integrated Media. He had been producer at Tor.com.

Seth Russo rejoins Simon & Schuster as VP, Director of International Sales. He held the same title at the company from 1992 to 1997. Russo was most recently the principal of Edureach International Consulting.

Sarah Knight has been named Senior Editor at Simon & Schuster. She was an editor at Shaye Areheart Books.

Colin Fox has been named Executive Editor at Hyperion. He was a Senior Editor at Simon & Schuster.

Marcy Posner, formerly agent and foreign rights director at Sterling Lord Literistic, has joined Folio Literary Management as an agent.

Lottchen Shivers has joined Abrams in the new position of Executive Director of Adult Marketing and Publicity, reporting to Mary Wowk. She had been running Lottchen Shivers Communications. Meanwhile, Susan Van Metre has been promoted to Publisher of Abrams Books for Young Readers and Amulet Books, replacing Howard Reeves, who been made Editor-at-Large.

Jeanne Emanuel has joined Perseus Books Group as VP Special and Gift Sales, a new position. She will be based in the Cambridge, MA office. She was most recently VP, Sales for Candlewick Press.

Cal Barksdale has started as Senior Editor at Tuttle Publishing in Vermont. He was at Arcade Books.

Jennifer Graham has been named Production Editor at Avalon and Lia Brown has been named Editor. She had been Managing Editor at Oxford University Press.

Jim Benjamin has started his own consulting company, JAB Associates, focused on finance and operations. He was CFO at Sterling. He may be reached at jabenjamin [at] verizon [dot] net.

Jocelyn Schmidt has been named Director of Brand Management at Penguin Children’s. She was VP and Director of Sales at Random House.

Dedi Felman has left Times Books and may be reached at dediaf1 [at] gmail [dot] com.

PROMOTIONS AND INTERNAL CHANGES

Ballantine Bantam Dell Publisher Libby McGuire (see above) has promoted Jennifer Hershey, SVP Editorial Director, Random House, to SVP, EIC, Ballantine Bantam Dell. Scott Shannon adds the title of Publisher, Ballantine Bantam Dell Mass Market, to his current role as VP, Publisher, Del Rey/Spectra. Kim Hovey, VP, Associate Publisher, Ballantine will now fill that position at BBD. Gina Wachtel, Bantam Associate Publisher, takes on the new role for BBD. Mark Tavani has been promoted to Executive Editor. He was Senior Editor.

At Random House Children’s, Till Wirth has joined New Media Marketing in the new position of Manager, Digital Content and Product Development.

At Oxford University Press, Tim Barton, who is ascending to the role of Managing Director of OUP USA, the UK Academic Division, and Oxford Journals, announced that Niko Pfund will now run US books and journals publishing across Academic and Trade, Medicine, and Law, in the Academic Research group. Scholarly Reference is run by Casper Grathwohl, also Online Publisher, OUP USA; and Higher Education by John Challice.

At Other Press, Paul Kozlowski, Director of Sales and Marketing, has been promoted to Associate Publisher. Editor Corinna Barsan has been promoted to Senior Editor and Katie Henderson to Editor.

At Shambhala, Sara Bercholz has been promoted to Executive Vice President and will also become the family owner representative.

Grace McQuade has been named Managing Director at Goldberg McDuffie Communications. She was Executive Vice President. Goldberg McDuffie also announced the launch of GMC Consulting, a new division aimed at helping “authors, agents and publishers develop creative strategies to meet the challenges of the digital era.” GMC Consulting “will provide authors and agents with guidance from the beginning of the publishing process.” In addition, the division will offer consulting services to authors on positioning and publicity for the launch of a book. Megan Underwood Beatie has been named Deputy Director of GMC Digital. Angela Baggetta Hayes has been named Director of GMC Digital. Both had been VPs at Goldberg McDuffie.

At Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, Carla Gray has been promoted to Director of Marketing, Adult Books; Candace Finn has been promoted to Subsidiary Rights Manager, in charge of selling all children’s rights; and Emer Flounders has been promoted to Publicist.

At HarperCollins, Lisa Sharkey announced that Matt Harper has been promoted to Senior Editor and Amy Bendell to Associate Editor.

DULY NOTED

Yale Publishing Course Director Tina Weiner announced that the new course, which runs July 18–23, will be titled “Leadership Strategies in a Time of Transition” and will concentrate on “the business of publishing as a global enterprise.”

Erstwhile Publishers Weekly Publisher George Slowik has purchased the magazine from Reed Elsevier and confirmed the recently appointed management of current Publisher Cevin Bryerman and co-editors Jim Milliot and Michael Coffey.

UPCOMING EVENTS

Sandbox Summit, which focuses on children’s media, books, toys, virtual worlds, and education, takes place May 18–19 in Cambridge, MA. A panel entitled “A New Chapter for Books: Innovative Approaches to the Oldest Form of Media” will be moderated by Alexandra Kennedy, Executive Director, Eric Carle Museum of Picture Book Art; panelists include Lisa Holton, Founder and CEO, Fourth Story Media; Peter H. Reynolds, children’s book author and illustrator and founder of FableVision; and Ben Vershbow, Digital Producer, NYPL.

The Ypulse Youth Marketing Mashup takes place May 24–25 in San Francisco, CA. Speakers include Guy Kawasaki; Sean Horvath, EVP, Branded Entertainment, Alloy Media + Marketing; and Publishing Trends alum Ariel Aberg-Riger, Creative Development and Marketing Director, Fourth Story Media.

IN MEMORIAM

A memorial service will be held for Knopf’s Nina Bourne, who died on April 9, 2010 at the age of 93. The service takes place Wednesday, May 19 at 4:00 p.m. at the New York Society for Ethical Culture.

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.

Flurry, a company that provides analytics to mobile phone application developers, found that e-book usage on smartphones increased 300% between April and July 2009. In September, for the first time, more book apps were released to the Apple iTunes store than games. And in October, one of every five new iPhone apps was a book. “The sharp rise in e-book activity on the iPhone indicates that Apple is positioned take market share from the Amazon Kindle as it did from the Nintendo DS [for video games],” Flurry concluded.

And while reading on mobile phones is often perceived as being a more popular activity in foreign countries like Japan than in the United States, a study by e-book application developer Wattpad reported that, in October, the United States surpassed Indonesia as the country with the highest mobile phone ebook consumption in the world. Wattpad attributes the increase to the popularity of the iPhone.Earlier this year, e-book publisher and distributor Smashwords found that its most popular downloaded file format was ePub. “This was before any e-reader companies were really promoting ePub,” says CEO Mark Coker. “The primary consumer of those ePub files was [Lexcycle’s iPhone e-reading app] Stanza.” While much of the attention around ebooks is focused on standalone devices, “I think the mobile phone piece of this is more interesting,” says Coker. “Stanza is at over 2.5 million downloads of their e-reader app. That single company probably has more readers than most of the other e-reading devices combined. Indigo’s Shortcovers [the mobile phone e-book store that recently partnered with Smashwords] has over 1 million downloads. When you look ahead over the next two to three years, it’s likely that we will have hundreds of millions, if not billions, of entry-level mobile phones that are ebook-ready. From a platform perspective, that represents a huge market for publishers, a market where the consumer already owns the device they need to consume your book.”

“By 2010, there are going to be 1 billion web-enabled cell phones,” says Maja Thomas, SVP Digital and Audio Publishing at Hachette. “There are only about 3 million standalone e-ink devices between Sony and Kindle and all the others.” In other words, this is an area publishers need to get into fast.

“It’s been nearly a year since we launched our very first mobile app, which was an app version of David Pogue’s iPhone: The Missing Manual,” says Andrew Savikas, VP of Digital Initiatives at O’Reilly. “The success of that first app, which outsold the print version from the time it launched last December until we published a new edition six months later, told us we needed to pay closer attention to mobile as a market for books.” Since then, O’Reilly has published over 400 iPhone apps, most of which are e-book versions of their books. “It’s interesting to see which ones perform particularly well on the platform,” says Savikas. “We have two camera guides for popular high-end digital cameras that are selling very well as iPhone apps, even though they haven’t been strong performers in print.” In development, “we’re certainly looking to use the kind of features that make these devices so great—things like geo-location and an always-on web connection.” Though Savikas couldn’t reveal how many apps O’Reilly has sold, he said that many of the company’s titles sell more copies as apps than as printed books and that in terms of revenue, “the iPhone is our most important digital channel after our own website and Safari Books Online.”

Lonely Planet’s Innovation Ecosystem Manager, Matthew Cashmore, agrees: “Sales of our mobile apps are really, really strong,” he says. “We see our apps in the top 10 on the iTunes store frequently.” The company recently created a new app for Android devices called “Lonely Planet Compass,” an “augmented reality travel guide.” “Imagine being able to stand in the middle of Union Square in San Francisco and look through your phone’s camera screen and see actual Lonely Planet reviews overlaid on the real world,” he says. Recently, the company held a “Hack Day” at its Melbourne, Australia headquarters. Over 50 developers from around Australia spent 24 hours using Lonely Planet data to build apps, including an app that created a custom itinerary based on a user’s answer to a few questions. See the winners here.

As consumers explore reading on their mobile phones—Brent Lewis, VP Digital and Internet at Harlequin, sees them doing “a lot of experimentation and sampling”—there is also a learning curve for publishers as they expand into the smartphone market.

“Everything about [developing a mobile content program] was a challenge,” says Thomas. “Conceiving of how it was going to be done, finding the partners, understanding the business model, understanding how to work with Apple, negotiating with agents for grant of rights that weren’t included on the original contract. If you want to do an enhanced eBook, you have to spend the time to do the enhancements. It’s very creative and it’s very fun, but it’s also very labor-intensive.” Hachette creates both promotional apps and apps for sale. All of its titles are available on the iPhone through ScrollMotion and via Kindle’s iPhone app. In addition, there are enhanced e-books for some titles, like Daniel X’s Maximum Ride, as well as free apps created by the marketing department to promote individual titles or series. Thomas says apps aimed at the teen market have been particularly successful, including the free apps Hachette created for its Poppy series (which allow readers to read the books’ first chapters for free)—and, of course, “Twilight has done wonderfully well on this platform.”

In addition to mobile publishing, HarperCollins is experimenting with mobile marketing. Susan Katz, President and Publisher of HarperCollins Children’s, said the division’s first marketing application for the iPhone is a free app featuring animated flash video excerpts from Shel Silverstein’s bestselling books. “We were the first publisher to put a Quick Reponse code [2D barcode] on our books and promotional materials, which garnered a lot of publicity,” Katz says. “For the Lauren Conrad book L.A. Candy, readers could connect directly to the L.A. Candy mobi site and watch a video of Lauren, read an excerpt, send it to a friend, and buy a book.” The company is rolling out this type of campaign for other teen properties as well and will launch a mobile version of harperteen.com in January.

Houghton Mifflin Harcourt is also pushing children’s and YA apps, says David Langevin, VP of Digital Business Development: “This is where technology and design can really come alive.” HMH has a $9.99 Curious George Dictionary app and will soon release apps for other Curious George titles and The Polar Express. “Revenues are still quite modest, but we’ve done incredibly well in the reference category,” Langevin says. “Internationally, we’ve already had great success in Japan with our American Heritage dictionary and related reference titles. They’ve been selling as English-learning products on the major carrier networks, like DoCoMo, since 2003. This has made, and continues to generate, real money.”

The most exciting mobile phone opportunities for publishers may be abroad. Coker says Shortcovers designed its retail operation to respect the rights of international publishers, and notes that in developing countries mobile phones are spreading literacy. “These devices provide people with access to books, many of which are free,” he says. “The potential to leverage the digital delivery of books over cell phones, to expand knowledge and propagate culture, is very exciting.”

“This is a rich new medium that demands creativity and experimentation,” says Savikas. “These devices can see, hear, speak, and respond to touch, they know where they are in the world, and they’re connected to the two-thirds of the world’s population that has a mobile phone.” One of the best things about mobile markets like the App Store is that O’Reilly “doesn’t have to do anything extra to reach dozens of countries that have little or no access to our printed products. Well over half of the sales of our iPhone apps come from outside the U.S. . . . Some forecasts suggest that by the end of next year, more people will access the internet via mobile devices than fixed broadband. We’re in the early stages of a new phase in technology, communication, and connection—one that will have a truly global impact.”

Madeline McIntosh has returned to Random House in the newly created position of President, Sales, Operations, and Digital. Her direct reports include Andrew Weber, SVP, Ops & Technology; Jaci Updike, SVP, Director, Random House Adult Sales; Joan DeMayo, SVP, Director, Children’s Sales and Director, Special Markets Sales; and Bonnie Ammer, EVP, International Sales. In addition to her U.S. responsibilities, McIntosh joins the Random House International Executive Board.

Elisabeth Dyssegaard has left HarperCollins, where she oversaw Smithsonian Books, to become Editor-in-Chief at Hyperion, following Will Balliett’s move to Thames & Hudson.

Neal Goff will be leaving his position as President of the Weekly Reader Publishing Group/Readers Digest as of the end of January 2010. He may be reached at nealgoff [at] gmail.com.

Former William Morrow Publisher Lisa Gallagher has moved to Sanford J. Greenburger. Her new e-mail address is lgallagher [at] sjga.com.

Bloomberg LP announced that it is closing Bloomberg Press, and will try to place the Press’s eight staffers elsewhere in the company.

Jim Benjamin, who was VP Finance & Operations at Sterling, has left the company and may be reached at jabenjamin [at] verizon.net. Laura Swerdloff has joined as an editor. She was previously an associate editor at Broadway.

Former SparkNotes Publisher Dan Weiss has joined Macmillan as Publisher-at-Large for St. Martin’s, reporting to paperback publisher Matthew Shear. Weiss will develop and acquire both fiction and nonfiction properties targeted at “twenty-somethings, Gen Yers, and older young adult readers,” for St. Martin’s as well as other Macmillan imprints.

Dystel & Goderich Literary Management is opening an office in LA, to be run by Michael Bourret, who has been at DGLM for 10 years. He will continue to grow his own list of author clients while also “aggressively pursuing new film and TV opportunities for the agency.”

Don Fehr, who left Kaplan, where he was Editorial Director, as Kaplan reduces its trade presence in order to focus on “core business and audiences,” may be reached at dfehr2 [at] verizon.net.

NAL/Penguin has named Danielle Perez Executive Editor, effective January 4. Perez was Senior Editor at Bantam.

Angela James has been named Executive Editor at Harlequin’s Carina Press. She was Editorial Director at Quartet Press.

Josh Getzler is moving to Russell & Volkening as an agent. He has been at Writers House for the past three years (prior to which he was COO of the Staten Island Yankees). He anticipates building his list of literary and commercial fiction, with a particular bias toward suspense and crime novels.

PJ Mark is moving to Janklow & Nesbit as an agent. He was agent and international rights director at McCormick & Williams. Mark will be replaced by Susan Hobson, who was Co-Director of Foreign Rights at Inkwell Management.

Macmillan Audio has hired Robert Allen as Editorial Director. Most recently he was a co-founder of Brands-to-Books (with Kathleen Spinelli, now at Walter Foster), after serving as Publisher of Random House Audio.

Borders Group has appointed Bill Dandy SVP, Marketing. Art Keeney, who has served in that post since June, will transition to the position of SVP, Store Operations. Larry Norton will move from his current role as SVP, Merchandising and Distribution, to the position of SVP, Merchandising for Adult Trade and Children’s Books. Norton joined the company in August.

In children’s books: Thomas P. Burke has joined Scholastic as SVP, E-Commerce, reporting to EVP and President of Scholastic Book Clubs and E-Commerce Judy Newman. Burke has been at BN.com for the past five years, overseeing merchandising, online marketing, customer experience, design and editorial content. Meanwhile, Rachel Bader has left Scholastic Media, where she was Director of Licensing and Consumer Promotion, to become Licensing Director, Packaged Goods and Promotions, at Chorion. She reports to Robert Traub, SVP Licensing for The Americas at Chorion.

Christine Duplessis has joined Penguin Children’s as Associate Director of Paperback, Series and Mass Merchandise Marketing. She was Marketing Manager at Atria and Washington Square Press. . . . Harper Children’s Executive Editor Susan Rich has joined Little, Brown Children’s in the new position of Editor-at-Large, where she will edit a new series from Lemony Snicket (a.k.a Daniel Handler) and other titles. . . . Daniel Nayeri is joining Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Children’s Clarion imprint as Editor. He has worked as a children’s librarian, a literary agent, and an in-house and freelance editor, and is the co-author of the YA novel Another Faust.

Michele Wetherbee is returning to HarperOne as Creative Director. She has held art/creative director positions at Harcourt, O’Reilly Media, and the University of California at Berkeley.

David Leach has been named Director of Book Sales at Greenleaf Book Group. He had been National Key Account Manager, Special Sales, at Thomas Nelson.

PROMOTIONS AND INTERNAL CHANGES

Jane von Mehren announced that Random House Trade Paperbacks’ Kerri Buckley has been promoted to editor. She joined the company in 2004. Caitlin Alexander is being promoted to Senior Editor and will acquire fiction and nonfiction in hardcover and trade paperback.

Kathy Schneider announced that Angie Lee has been promoted to VP of Marketing at Harper. Lee joined the company in 2005 as a Senior Marketing Director in the Collins division. Prior to joining HC, Lee was a Marketing Director at Teach for America and also held positions at News America Marketing, a promotional agency under the News Corp umbrella. . . . Peter London has been promoted to Director of Permissions, effective immediately.

At St. Martin’s, Alyse Diamond has been promoted to editor, continuing to report to Kathy Huck. She has been at SMP since 2005, focusing on nonfiction (though she also acquired a middle-grade fiction series.)

At Blake Friedmann in the UK, Oliver Munson has been promoted to full-time agent.

Shelf Awareness reports that Tyson Cornell’s job as Director of Marketing and Publicity at LA’s Book Soup has been eliminated. He may be reached at tyson.cornell [at] gmail.com. Vroman’s is in the process of buying Book Soup, whose founder and owner, Glenn Goldman, died early this year.

UPCOMING EVENTS

The Mark Logic Digital Publishing Summit will take place on December 10 at the Plaza Hotel in New York. Columnist and ex-Publisher of the Wall Street Journal Gordon Crovitz, Outsell’s David Worlock, and Shannon Holman of McGraw Hill Higher Education will speak at the free, day-long seminar.

BAM’s Eat, Drink & Be Literary brings major contemporary authors to Brooklyn’s BAMcafé for dinners, readings, and engaging discussions. Evenings begin at 6:30pm with a buffet and wine, accompanied by live music. Following dinner, authors read from and are interviewed about their work, take questions from the audience, and sign books. Speakers this season are Wallace Shawn (January 7, 2010), E. L. Doctorow (January 21), Lynn Nottage (February 11), Sam Lipsyte (March 11), Colm Tóibín (April 8), Joshua Ferris (April 22), Jayne Anne Phillips (May 6), and Sam Shepard (June 3).

On February 1, the New York Center for Independent Publishing (NYCIP) will present “The Next Chapter in Publishing,” an intensive one-day conference designed to meet the needs of independent publishers and writers by exploring the changing technologies of the publishing industry. Speakers include Jeff Rivera of GalleyCat, Chris Kenneally of the Copyright Clearance Center, and Mark Coker of Smashwords.

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.

As summer wanes, change remains the constant: Former Simon & Schuster President of Sales and Distribution Larry Norton has joined Borders as SVP, Merchandising and Distribution, reporting to EVP Anne Kubek. Norton will lead the merchandising team and will work out of his Connecticut home. Earlier it was announced that Dave Marsico has been named VP, Midwest at Borders. He had been Market Director at online discounter Meijer. John Melnick has been named VP, Northeast. He had been Zone VP at Michael’s Stores. Mike Steele has been named VP, West Coast. He had been Director, Store Operations.

Longtime Baker & Taylor sales executive Bill Preston, SVP for retail and international, has left the company. He may be reached at wpreston1311 [at] aol.com.

CEO of Reed Business Information USA Tad Smith has joined Cablevision as President of Local Media, a new division that will organize local media and programming assets under one business unit, reporting to COO Tom Rutledge.

Jim Joseph has officially been named President and Publisher of Globe Pequot Press after serving as interim President following the departure of Scott Watrous, and previously as COO. Lawrence Dorfman has also been promoted to VP, Sales. He was Executive Director of National Accounts. Following the departures of Michelle Lewy and John Groton last month, Gene Brissie, erstwhile EIC of Lyons Press, has returned to his own literary agency, James Peter Associates, and may be reached at gene_brissie [at] msn.com. A search has begun for an Editorial Director.Andy Ward, Executive Editor of GQ Magazine, has accepted the position of VP, Executive Editor of the Random House imprint of the Random House Publishing Group, reporting to Susan Kamil, RH Editor-in-Chief/Editorial Director of Dial.

Yulia Borodyanskaya, who left Kaplan earlier this summer, has gone to McGraw-Hill as International Rights Director in the Higher Ed division.

After a brief hiatus, Julie Bennett is rejoining Ten Speed Press as Editorial Director, reporting to Publisher Aaron Wehner. She previously worked for the publisher for nine years. Dawn Yanagihara joins the company as Senior Editor. She worked in a number of roles at Cook’s Illustrated and was most recently Senior Editor at Weldon Owen.

Lauren Weidner has been named Associate Sales Manager, Latin America/ Caribbean at Simon & Schuster. She comes from HarperCollins, where she was International Coordinator. Meanwhile, Jessica Wiener has been named Marketing Director for HarperStudio. She was with Hyperion. She replaces Sarah Burningham, who has left the company to concentrate on her writing and launch her freelance PR, marketing, and branding firm, Little Bird.

Jacqueline Murphy has been named in-house Subsidiary Rights Director at FinePrint Literary Management. She had been Executive Audio Editor at HarperCollins. Laura Wood, previously Associate Publisher of Council Oak Books, and Ward Calhoun, Senior Editor at Hylas Publishing, have also joined the agency.

Teresa Fogarty has been named a partner in the Los Angeles–based BookstoFilm.tv. Fogarty was most recently Marketing and Publicity Manager for IBPA (formerly PMA). She joins Rocky Lang, as well as the newly arrived Scott Barker.

PEN American Center, the largest branch of International PEN, announced the appointment of Steven L. Isenberg as Executive Director. For the past six years, Isenberg was a Visiting Professor of Humanities at the University of Texas (Austin). Isenberg succeeds Michael Roberts, who resigned in June after 11 years, to pursue a new career interest.

Mark Greenberg, Editor-in-Chief of Getty Publications, has left the museum, which has begun a search for his successor.

PROMOTIONS AND INTERNAL CHANGES

Kristin Fassler has been named Deputy Director, Marketing Department, Ballantine and Bantam/Dell, reporting to Sanyu Dillon. Fassler joined RH in 2004. Carolyn Schwartz has been appointed VP, Director of Ad/ Promo, reporting to Stacey Witcraft. She was Deputy Director of Creative Marketing at Bantam. Jennifer Smith will return to Ballantine as Editor, reporting to Libby McGuire. Smith began her publishing career at ICM in 2003 and came to RH in 2007 as Associate Editor.

At S&S, Tracy Nelson has been named National Account Manager for Barnes & Noble. She was responsible for selling and marketing the entire adult list to bn.com and will also continue to sell and market e-books on bn.com. Additionally, Christine Weag has been promoted to Associate National Account Manager. She joined the company in 2008. Megan Noyes has been named Manager of Digital Operations, Supply Chain at S&S. She had been Database Operations Analyst. Bill Kinneman has been named Director of Business Intelligence, Supply Chain. He had been Associate Director of Business Analysis. Veronica Lee has been named Sales Manager, International Sales. She had been Regional Associate Manager, Asia Pacific.

At Holt, Helen Atsma has been promoted to Senior Editor. She moved from Little, Brown in 2007 as an editor.

DULY NOTED

For over a decade, publishing houses have been a mainstay of Everybody Wins!, a literacy and mentoring organization. Power Lunch, EW!’s flagship program, pairs volunteers from local businesses, nonprofits, and community organizations with students in nearby public elementary schools for weekly lunchtime reading and conversation. EW! currently partners with four publishing houses: RH, McGraw-Hill, Penguin USA, and Scholastic. They are seeking new partners in publishing who can offer volunteers, book donations, in-school author events, and other language arts–related activities. Interested parties should contact Tom Schroeder: tschroeder [at] everybodywinsNY.org or (212) 965-2291.

HarperCollins is publishing invisible I, the highly anticipated first book in The Amanda Project series, at the end of September, to tie in with the just-launched website. (PW starred review here.) T.A.P. is the brainchild of Fourth Story Media’s Lisa Holton, who created the multiplatform media company after leaving Scholastic, where she was President of Trade Publishing and Book Fairs.

The search for Michael Healy’s successor as Executive Director of the Book Industry Study Group is underway. Send nominations and applications in strict confidence to search consultant Angela Henry at BISGedsearch2009 [at] gmail.com.

UPCOMING EVENTS

Kassia Krozser of Booksquare.com and agents Jenny Bent and Richard Curtis are some of the featured speakers at the annual Writers Digest conference, September 18–20 at NYC’s Marriott Marquis.

The New York Center for Independent Publishing (NYCIP) will present “The Next Chapter in Publishing” October 2 at its headquarters (20 W. 44th St.). Speakers will include Jeff Rivera of GalleyCat, Chris Kenneally from the Copyright Clearance Center, Mark Coker of Smashwords, and Fran Toolan of Netgalley.

A is for Antitrust, B is for Book, C is for Copyright, and D is for Digitize: A Conference on the Google Book Search Lawsuit will be held at New York Law School, 57 Worth St., October 8–10, 2009. Academics and practitioners will examine the settlement through the lenses of copyright, civil procedure, antitrust, the publishing industry, information policy, and literary culture. The conference is timed to coincide with the rescheduled fairness hearing in the Google Book Search case, which will be held October 7. E-mail infolaw [at] nyls.edu for more information.

The Goddard Riverside Community Center’s Gala will honor Josh Marwell, HarperCollins President of Sales, on October 26 at the Loeb Boathouse.

CLMP’s annual fundraising Spelling Bee will take place October 26 at Diane von Furstenberg’s studio. Spellers include Michael Cunningham, Jonathan Burnham, and Francine Prose.

Rodale CEO Steve Murphy is leaving the company and will be replaced by Maria Rodale, who also continues in her role as Chairman of the Board.

Don Linn, SVP and Publisher of the Taunton Press, is leaving to launch a digital publishing house, Quartet Press. Linn will have principal responsibility for Quartet Press’ Finance, Administration and General Management. His partners in the digital publishing start-up include Kassia Krozser of Booksquare; Kirk Biglione of Medialoper; and Kat Meyer, long-time book marketer for trade and academic presses. Quartet Press anticipates a Fall 2009 launch with the house’s romance imprint, Quench Romance!, with plans to expand into additional categories and service offerings in the near future.

At HarperCollins, Liate Stehlik announced that Margot Schupf has been named to the newly created position of SVP, Editorial Director, Digital Publishing for the Morrow/Avon/Eos group.

Earlier in the month, Bruce Nichols announced his move to Houghton Mifflin Harcourt as Publisher, Adult and Reference, effective August 3, and based in the New York office. He may be reached at bruce.nichols [at] hmhpub.com.

Senior Editor at Times Books/Holt Robin Dennis is leaving to join her husband in London, where he has been working for the past year. And Senior Editor Webb Younce is leaving for Germany and will join Suhrkamp Verlag after it moves its offices to Berlin from Frankfurt. He will acquire titles from the US and UK.

Neil Levin has left NBN and will relaunch his own sales business, Publisher Marketing Group. He may be reached at nlevin [at] mindspring.com.

Carl Raymond, who was most recently at Simon & Schuster/Simon Spotlight, has been named Director of Marketing at Guideposts, reporting to Linda Cunningham. Meanwhile, Simon & Schuster Children’s has hired Fiona Simpson as Editorial Director of Aladdin. She was most recently an Executive Editor at Scholastic’s trade paperback and licensing group.

Ariel Aberg-Riger has been named Director of Marketing and Creative Development at Fourth Story Media, whose first property is The Amanda Project. Aberg-Riger was previously at Market Partners International.

Michelle Lewy has left Globe Pequot, following the departure of Scott Watrous in June. She may be reached at MLewy99842 [at] aol.com. John Groton, Executive Director of Sales, has also left the company and may be reached at jgroton [at] gmail.com.

Changes at Sterling and Barnes & Noble: A total of 25 employees have reportedly been let go, including 11 from Sterling. Some open jobs are not being filled. Michael Beacom, co-editions manager for Sterling, has left and may be reached at beacom.michael [at] gmail.com. Marisa Bulzone, who worked with Hearst Books, has been laid off and may be reached at mbulzone [at] nyc.rr.com. At Barnes & Noble, reporting to Chief Merchandising Officer Jamie Carey, Joe Gonella assumes responsibility for adult buying. Patricia Bostelman will oversee all marketing and co-op, and Antoinette Ercolano now oversees regional buying and is working with stores on replenishment and field merchandising. Bob Wietrak, Marcella Smith, and Liz Harwell will each take on additional buying responsibilities and staff. Kim Brown moves to Sterling to take over proprietary publishing for adult and juvenile, leaving her children’s buying position open. And Bruce Lubin, who has been in charge of book development at Barnes & Noble Publishing, is leaving to launch his own publishing enterprise.

Vanessa Mobley and Lorraine Glennon are joining Broadway, reporting to recently hired Publisher Diane Salvatore. Mobley was most recently at Penguin Press. Glennon was books editor and senior articles editor at Ladies’ Home Journal, where Salvatore was previously Editor-in-Chief.

T. J. Kelleher has joined Basic Books/Perseus as Executive Editor. Kelleher was Senior Editor at Smithsonian Books and editor of Seed Magazine.

Literary agent Joe Spieler has moved his office and will now work out of the Lippincott Massie McQuilkin offices at 27 W. 20th Street.

Disney Publishing Worldwide (DPW) has named Yves Saada to the newly created position of VP, Digital Media, Disney Global Book Group, responsible for digital media management and strategy, including overall management of the Fall 2009 launch of Disney Digital Books. The announcement was made by Jeanne Mosure, SVP and Group Publisher, Global Books, DPW. Saada was VP Interactive Media at Pokemon USA. And Lynn Waggoner, formerly Associate Publisher, has moved to the West Coast, where she now runs the content and curriculum team for Disney English. Disney has opened language learning schools in China and she is in charge of the creative team, essentially functioning as publisher for the materials used in the schools.

Jessica Ko is returning to Simon & Schuster as National Account Manager, selling Atria, Pocket, SSE, and Kaplan to BGI. Most recently, she worked at HarperCollins. David Falk has moved to Touchstone/Fireside as Associate Publisher, reporting to Stacy Creamer. He succeeds Chris Lloreda, who moved to Atria in June as Deputy Publisher. Falk was most recently Associate Publisher, Director of Sales and Marketing at the Overlook Press.

Rachel Dicker has joined Baker & Taylor as Director, Publisher Digital Services. She reports to SVP, Publisher Digital Services and Business Development Linda Gagnon. Dicker was most recently at PW.

Jill Santopolo joins Penguin Children’s Philomel as Executive Editor, reporting to Philomel President and Publisher Michael Green. She was Senior Editor at HarperCollins imprint Balzer & Bray.

At Penguin UK, Managing Director Helen Fraser announced her retirement. Penguin General MD Tom Weldon replaes her as Deputy CEO, and will step up to CEO at the end of 2010. DK CEO Gary June has left the division, but is staying with Pearson and becoming Chief Marketing and Business Development Officer in North America.

Susan Rossen, longtime Director of Publications at the Art Institute of Chicago, is retiring as of August 1 and may be reached at sfrossen [at] gmail.com. She will be replaced by her deputy, Robert Sharp.

The Washington Post reports that President Obama has chosen David S. Ferriero, currently chief executive of the NYPL research libraries, to be Archivist of the United States, “a post that includes making sure that highly sensitive presidential papers and electronic records are saved and made available to the public.” Ferriero will succeed Allen Weinstein, who resigned last year.

PROMOTIONS AND INTERNAL CHANGES

John Donatich, Director of Yale University Press, has named former history editor Chris Rogers Interim Editorial Director. Rogers replaces Jonathan Brent, who has moved to YIVO Institute for Jewish Research as Executive Director and CEO.

Jon Anderson announced that Simon & Schuster Children’s Production will be integrated with the Children’s publishing division. Lottie Gooding, VP Children’s Production, has elected to take early retirement. Lisa Ford, Director of Hardcover and Paperback Production, and Martha Hanson, Director of Novelty, Media, and Teen Production, now reports directly to Anderson. Kathy Lovisolo, Senior Manager for Backlist Production, now reports to VP and Executive Managing Editor Lisa Donovan.

Genevieve Shore, Digital Director at Penguin Group, is moving up to direct digital strategy for Penguin’s parent group Pearson.

Christian Frederking, who had been in charge of international rights, has been named Sales and Marketing Director at Thames & Hudson UK.

At Langenscheidt, Christine Ramos has been promoted to Marketing Director, and Gina Garza has been promoted to Publicity Director.

At St. Martin’s, Director of Marketing and Publishing Operations/Hardcover Matt Baldacci and Marketing Director/SMP Paperbacks Anne Marie Tallberg have both been promoted to Associate Publisher in their respective divisions.

Leis Pederson has been promoted to Associate Editor at Berkley.

DULY NOTED

Barnes & Noble, in an agreement with AT&T, now offers free wi-fi in all stores nationwide.

MediaBistro will run a webcast featuring Craigslist founder Craig Newmark on how to start your own media business, August 11 from 2-3:30 PM. The cost is $65.

UPCOMING EVENTS

The New York Center for Independent Publishing (NYCIP) will present “The Next Chapter in Publishing” October 2 at its headquarters (20 W. 44th St.). Speakers will include Jeff Rivera of GalleyCat, Chris Kenneally from the Copyright Clearance Center, Mark Coker of Smashwords, and Fran Toolan of Netgalley.

The Goddard Riverside Community Center’s Gala will honor Josh Marwell, HarperCollins President of Sales, on October 26 at the Loeb Boathouse.