PEOPLE The big news of the month-and at BEA-is that Larry Kirshbaum will become VP and Publisher of Amazon Publishing in New York, a new position many had vied for. Kirshbaum has been an agent since he left Time Warner Books as it was merged with Hachette in 2005. Amazon has had a busy month [...]

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People Philip Patrick has joined Amazon.com, in Seattle, as Senior Leader, Rights & Licensing. He was most recently VP, Digital & Marketing Strategy, Publisher Ebooks at Crown Publishing Group. Margot Schupf has left her position as VP, Publisher, Sterling Innovation. She was previously SVP, Editorial Director, Digital Publishing for the Morrow/Avon/Eos group. Meanwhile, Derry Wilkins, [...]

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PEOPLE Richard Rhorer has been named Associate Publisher of Simon & Schuster, reporting to Jonathan Karp. Previously he was Director of Digital Business Development at Macmillan. . . . Sally Kim joined Touchstone on March 7 as Editorial Director, reporting to VP, Publisher Stacy Creamer. Kim was Executive Editor of the Harper imprint at HarperCollins. [...]

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PEOPLE As widely reported over the last month, while BN.com staffs up, layoffs continue at both Barnes & Noble and Borders. About 40 people were let go from Barnes & Noble recently, including Bob Wietrak, Lee Stern, Marcella Smith, Mo Stewart, and buyers Dan Mayer, Dave Hathaway, and Kim Corradini. At Borders, just after New [...]

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Jon Yaged has been named President of Macmillan Children’s. He had been COO at HouseParty.com since March 2010 and was previously VP and Publisher for Disney Book Group. Nina Hoffman, President of National Geographic Books, will leave at the end of the year. Editor-in-Chief  and Books COO Hector Sierra will report to Declan Moore, who [...]

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September 2010 Roundup

September 2010

PEOPLE So much for the dog days of August. . . . Jim King, SVP and General Manager at Nielsen BookScan, has left the company to become a consultant to the industry. He may be reached at jim.king.j [at] gmail dot com. Simon & Schuster Publisher Jon Karp has announced several more changes over the [...]

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In this age of undead Bennets and robo-Karenina, a different kind of mash-up is on the literary horizon: cross-vertical social media. Startups like GetGlue, LivingSocial, and Blippr are all-in-one social media hubs for a user’s complete entertainment discussion needs: books, films, TV shows, music, even beer and wine. Cross-vertical referrals match books with films or [...]

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Conferentially Speaking

Laura Hazard Owen | July 2010

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 [...]

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July 2010 Roundup

July 2010

PEOPLE 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, [...]

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Crown Publishing Group President and Publisher Maya Mavjee announces big changes: Diane Salvatore, VP, Publisher of Broadway Books; Senior Editor Lorraine Glennon; and VP, Executive Director, Publicity Katie Wainright are leaving the company. Shaye Areheart steps down as Publisher of her eponymous imprint, Shaye Areheart Books (which will be discontinued), but will stay on as [...]

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