People Publishers haven’t gotten the memo about summer doldrums, apparently, because this has been a record month for job changes: Phaidon Press announced that Chris North has become MD, working out of its London headquarters. North was most recently at HarperCollins, first in New York and later in Toronto as COO of HarperCollins Canada. Janet…Continue Reading
Book View People May was another busy month for publishers’ human resource directors: Michael Jacobs has gone to Abrams as CEO. He was most recently SVP of Scholastic’s trade division. In addition, Ron Longe has been named Director of Publicity for STC, also part of the Martinière Group. He was most recently at Routledge. Michael…Continue Reading
The AAP’s Director of International Copyright Development, Patricia Judd stunned her audience at the group’s annual meeting in late-February with Jesse James-like tales of raiding unsuspecting copyshops around the globe to stamp out the estimated $500 million black-market book biz, in which copy-machine crimes are at an all-time high. That estimate, she pointed out, is…Continue Reading
While many university presses have embarked on a soul-searching jag as they try to reconcile their lofty mandates with low-life financial reality, the folks at Harvard Business School Press appear anything but confused. “We are not a university press,” says David Goehring, newly appointed VP and Director of HBS Press. “You could say we’re a…Continue Reading
PEOPLE CDS’ Stanley Cohen has taken a leave of absence and Steve Black has stepped in as Acting Sales Director. David Wilk, VP of Client Services and Business Development, has taken over some responsibilities and a new Client Services Manager, Kerry Liebling, has been hired. Erin McHugh has been named Director of Creative Services, Trade…Continue Reading
Online Learning’s 600-Pound Gorilla Tangos With Textbook Publishers The University of Phoenix, an Arizona-headquartered, for-profit institution offering degrees in adult-education staples such as business administration and information technology, may seem an odd candidate to be turning the world of higher educational publishing upside down. Yet as the nation’s largest accredited university — 163,627 current students…Continue Reading
As the world of higher education continues to grapple with distance learning and its effect upon educational publishers (see article), textbook publishers, while sizing up the online onslaught, are protecting their flanks with a variety of forays into the consumer market at the elementary and high-school levels: • Dan Farley, President of Harcourt Trade, is…Continue Reading
PEOPLE Random House has offered a “Voluntary Retirement Window of Opportunity” to “most” employees who have been with the company at least five years, and are 50 years old or older. The email offer was made on March 19 and employees must notify HR by mid-May. Many people clicked the Delete button before reading the…Continue Reading
You gotta hand it to SparkNotes, the nervy and boldly proliferating line of literature study guides created by four Harvard seniors and acquired by Barnes & Noble in March 2001. Variously described by the media as “cheeky new book notes,” “kind of a CliffsNotes wanna-be,” and “the last word in literary laziness,” SparkNotes have managed…Continue Reading
PEOPLE Change is the constant in publishing at the moment: Bookspan cut its staff by about a dozen people, including longtimers Norm Schneider, VP Marketing, and Nancy Whitin, who oversaw the Specialty Clubs, including The Good Cook, History, Crafters, Country Homes, Military, Stage & Screen, Mystery Guild, etc. Natalie Chapman has been named VP, Publisher,…Continue Reading
