Lisa Holton saw many parallels to the way teens are engaging in her company’s first online/offline property, The Amanda Project, which consists of a book series and a highly interactive site where users create their own characters and contribute to the story line. “You start building a house, and then invite everyone in to help you. . . . You have to lose control a little bit” when you ask people to contribute to your existing content, “but you have to embrace that risk.”

Ben Vershbow addressed academic publishing, which is plagued by high costs and a diminishing market, arguing that some of that publishing, which is already moving to a digital and POD realm, will have to be undertaken by libraries, which are also considering hosting academic conferences.

Ann Kirschner talked about students’ approach to research:  “If it’s not available digitally, it’s almost as though it doesn’t exist.” But, she noted, “content is beginning to find its natural platform,” and as users become more conversant with the options, they will be able to adjust to the best method for any given reader experience.

Kirschner also summed up the dilemma facing many users of digital content, especially those on the web: “You can say unmediated, or you can say democratic,” it all depends on how open you are to the experience.

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.

On the other hand, though it still covers music and movies, Newsweek doesn’t even bother to review books. It usually mentions a topical one somewhere in its pages, sometimes referring to the publisher. Reader’s Digest has an “Editors’ Choice” page, with author, title, mini-review, even pictures of the favored books — but no publisher nor price (nor any explanation of what an Editors’ Choice is).

What’s behind the demise of publishers’ imprimaturs? One reviewer at a prominent magazine for young women told PT that the section editor “made a command decision about a year ago not to ‘waste space’ in the reviews by mentioning the publisher. ‘The reader doesn’t know or care about the publisher,’ she told me.” But, adds the reviewer, she still makes review decisions based on who the publisher is.

Carol Fitzgerald, whose bookreporter.com site contains reviews (with publisher) and author interviews (without publisher), agrees that consumers aren’t won over by the colophon. “We have never heard a reader say, ‘I would love to read another Doubleday book,’ or ‘I love Time Warner titles.’ We joke that if I stood on the corner telling people they would get $1,000 if they could tell me who published Dan Brown, no one would win. Unless I was on the corner of 56th/Broadway.”

So what effect, if any, is this having on publishers? Martha Levin, Publisher of Free Press, says that “it’s a terrible blow to the publisher’s ego, but we all know the consumer doesn’t care.” And, she adds, for those who do care — like other publishers — it’s more cumbersome when there’s just a title or author, requiring visits to Amazon.com or bn.com to track down the missing data. Steve Fischer, US Director of Sales and Marketing for Thorsons, said that, ironically, it was sometimes a benefit. The company is part of HarperCollins UK, which means, if the books are not listed by imprint (Thorsons or Element) but under HarperCollins, readers are sometimes confused when they ask for the book in a store or go to HC’s US website and don’t find it there. Ultimately, says Fischer, “I’m happy to get a mention anywhere, especially when they mention the author.”

Paul Gottlieb has been named Executive Director of the Aperture Foundation. He leaves Abrams after 22 years, during which time he held the titles of Publisher, President, CEO, and most recently, Company Director and Vice Chairman of the La Martiniere Groupe. He begins August 1.

Brigitte Weeks is leaving Guideposts to become Vice President and Editor-in-Chief of Bookspan’s Crossings and Black Expressions book clubs. She has been at Guideposts since 1994, and was previously at Book-of-the-Month Club, before it merged with the Doubleday Clubs. Weeks replaces Michele Rapkin, who is moving to Doubleday to become Editor-in-Chief of its religious imprints. She, in turn, is succeeding Eric Major, who is retiring to England this summer.

Linda Pennell has resigned from Random House, where she has been Director of Subsidiary Rights, effective the end of May. At that time, she may be reached via email (lpennell51@ aol.com) or at (914) 238-1608. . . Anita Diggs has left Ballantine where she was Senior Editor in charge of One World. She had moved from Warner, when she was in publicity, two years earlier. She may be reached at (212) 531-1973, or at anitadiggs@aol.com. . . Picador Associate Publisher Melanie Fleishman is leaving the company and may be reached at fleishmanm@hotmail.com. . . As announced elsewhere, Kris Kliemann has left Fodor’s and Alison Gross has been named Publisher. Kliemann may be reached at kkliemann914@aol.com.

Amy Metsch, formerly of Questia, started at Random Audio as Senior Acquisitions Editor, reporting to Robert Allen (who, in turn, reports to Jenny Frost). . . Amy Gurney has joined Cowan, Liebowitz & Latman as of counsel. She has represented Yo-Yo Ma, Michael Jackson, and Jose Carreras, as well as Dreamworks SKG, Miramax Films, New Line Cinema and WalMart.

In children’s publishing: Houghton Mifflin has appointed Andrea Davis Pinkney as VP and Publisher of Houghton Mifflin’s juvenile books. She was Editoral Director of Hyperion Books for Children at Disney. . . Bernette Ford is leaving Scholastic, where she was the founder and VP/Editorial Director of Cartwheel Books for over twelve years. She will be an independent packager of children’s books, working on multicultural titles as well as books for the very young. After Memorial Day, she can be reached at her home office: (718) 434-3677 or bfordhome@aol.com. In other Scholastic news, Kate Nunn has been named Editor-in-Chief of the Children’s Press and Franklin Watts imprints. She was previously editorial director of Benchmark Books, an imprint of Marshall Cavendish. . . Joyce Stein has been named marketing Communications Manager at Innovative Kids USA, a publisher of educational/ interactive books. She was most recently Marketing Director at LKC (Larousse Kingfisher Chambers). . . Meanwhile, word is that Bertelsmann/Berryville, the US printer of record for the Harry Potter books, is planning to commit 50% more capacity to producing the next Harry Potter for Scholastic.

The lure of the book: Earlier in April Rob Weisbach went to S&S as an Editor-at-Large, after a hiatus of several years. Now Marion Maneker is leaving New York Magazine to become Editorial Director of HarperBusiness and an Executive Editor of HarperCollins trade. When asked about his prospective list, he emailed PT that “the future of the imprint is to broaden the idea of what a business book can be to include reportage, histories, memoirs, and books that make a provocative argument about the economic context that surrounds our social lives, and eventually anything of interest to millions of people who subscribe to the Wall Street Journal.”

As reported earlier, Penguin president David Wan will leave his current job to become president and CEO of Harvard Business School Press. He replaces Linda Doyle, who will join the school’s faculty. Meanwhile, Harvard Business Review Editor Suzy Wetlaufer has resigned.

Tricia Conley has joined Viking as Managing Editor. She was most recently Director of Communications at the Tilton School in NH, but had been at Penguin Putnam from 1995-1999. Tory Klose has been promoted to Executive Managing Editor at Viking. She has been at Viking since November 1997, and before that she was the President of K&N Bookworks, a small book packaging company.

DULY NOTED

According to Broadway’s Charlie Conrad, it all started with The Big Con. He and B’way Publisher Gerry Howard were discussing Howard’s republishing of the classic book by David Maurer, and Conrad happened to mention his favorite con man book, Catch Me If You Can. Looking for a copy to give Howard, Conrad discovered that it was OP. On to the web, and before long he had located the author, Frank Abagnale, and had contracted with him to reissue the book for a “reasonable” sum. Oh yes, Abagnale did mention that Dreamworks had recently optioned it, but this was one of many options that had been negotiated since its publication in 1980. Published by Broadway in August 2000, the reissue has sold almost 80,000 copies so far in its latest edition. And the movie, starring Tom Hanks, Leonardo Di Caprio, and Christopher Walken, and directed by Steven Spielberg (Abagnale has a cameo as a pilot), is scheduled for a Christmas Day release. It is currently filming in the New York area.

• President and Publisher Peter Mayer announced that Overlook Press has acquired Ardis Publishers, “the leading publisher of Russian literature in the English-speaking world.” The company, with a backlist of about 300 books, was acquired from cofounder Ellendea Proffer Teasley, widow of the founder Carl Proffer. Go to www.ardisbooks.com.

• Book Tech Magazine’s April issue highlights Dover Publications, which is now a part of Courier, its printer for the past 30-plus years. The publisher employs more than 180 people and has approximately 8,000 titles in print, 75 percent of them paperbacks. Over 2,000 titles are reprinted every year, in addition to 500 new titles. Book Tech mentions that Courier has significantly upgraded Dover’s technology: it has moved to computer-to-plate and operates on a digital workflow. It can produce runs as low as 1,000 but maintains efficiencies by printing multiple titles of books that have the same paper and trim size. What has not changed, though, is Dover’s nonreturnable policy — the reason, says Dover’s president Clarence Strowbridge, that its prices still run as low as a buck a book.

• The early birds who have signed up for Publishing Services Network’s new F.A.S.T. service (Fair Appointments Service Team) include (according to a principal) “a US literary agent, a UK book packager, a German editorial bureau, a UK picture library and a US comic book publisher. It’s a simple and inexpensive flat fee solution to the worry of filling your diaries with profitable meetings at the world’s major book fairs: BEA, Frankfurt, Bologna and London.” Contact Jim Sutton at (301) 371-7603 or go to Booth #2822 at Javits to meet Jim and his colleagues Gwyn Headley and Alan Greene.

PARTIES

PEN held its annual Gala on April 24 at the Pierre Hotel in New York City. Among those in attendance were Lauren Bacall, Jessye Norman, Ron Howard, Dan Rather, David Byrne, Joe Klein, Sylvia Nasar, David Remnick, George Plimpton, Amy Tan, and most of the industry machers. The benefit evening was co-chaired by Larry Kirshbaum, Toni Goodale (who also served as Master of Ceremonies), and Susan Lyne.

• At Carole Baron’s party for first novelist Hari Kunzru’s well-reviewed The Impressionist, on hand were B&N and B&N.com’s Jill Lamar and Brenda Marsh, BOMC’s Victoria Skurnick, BookSense’s Carl Lennertz, and new Pearson Chairman and CEO, John Makinson (formerly CFO) along with his UK and US agents and UK publisher, Simon Prosser of Hamish Hamilton.

• Lynn Goldberg hosted the event celebrating the reissue of James McCourt’s Mawrdew Czgowchwz by NY Review of Books. On hand were publisher Rea Hederman, agent Elaine Markson, press in the persons of Sarah Nelson, Celia McGee, and Marion Maneker (then at NY Magazine) and friends Joel Grey and John Waters.

• Party animal Peter Mayer fêted the publication of UK writer Geoff Nicholson’s ninth novel, Bedlam Burning, at his wife Inez Bon’s restaurant, NL.

Congrats to Phyllis Grann — and Random House — who have finally tied the knot in what is perhaps the last good news of ’01? Word is that not all publishers there are equally excited, leading to speculation about whether the last card has yet been played.

Back at Penguin Putnam, Adrian Zackheim has hired Bill Brazell as Senior Editor of his new imprint, Portfolio Books. Brazell had worked at Industry Standard, and before that at Wired. . . . Following Vivendi Publishing CEO Agnes Touraine’s announcement of Bertil Hessel’s “sabbatical” as the head of LKC in London, Houghton’s Wendy Strothman will assume all Kingfisher responsibilities. Meanwhile, Director of Special Markets and US Rights Penelope Chaplin has been named VP, Publisher N. America for Kingfisher. Layoffs at Kingfisher include CFO Tim Gelatt, Marketing Manager Joyce Stein, and Sales and Marketing’s Lesley Moseley. . . . Layoffs continue around town, though some more publicly than others: Abrams’ cutbacks have been ongoing since the announced departures of Mark Magowan and Alan Rutsky (now up to twenty-five, including PR Director Liz Robbins, longtime Rights Director Pam Harwood, Production Director Shun Yamamoto, the entire contracts, as well as photographic rights departments, plus members of the foreign rights, editorial, design and marketing departments). Meanwhile, recruiters are searching for a new CEO for the company. Back to other cutbacks: Questia has shrunk from 280 at its height, to 68 (though Linda Cunningham, Joana Jebsen, and Justin Wolske remain in New York, and a major direct mail and TV campaign has just been launched), and Andrews McMeel is closing a warehouse and terminating 110 positions, because it will outsource its distribution. These follow layoffs at DK (US and UK), Random Reference and Children’s, Rodale, and Tuttle. Then, of course, there are the closings — of Zoland Books, a 15-year-old company based in Cambridge, Massachusetts (and publisher of Ha Jin’s collection of stories, which won the Pen/Faulkner award for First Fiction), and of Reciprocal, as well as the bankruptcy of netLibrary.

Bobbi Mark has been named Chief Marketing and Development Officer for Acumen Fund, a not-for-profit with an innovative model for international philanthropy. Seed funding is from the Rockefeller and Cisco Foundations. Mark was formerly at RR Donnelley and before that, at BOMC and Bantam. . . . Suzanne Oaks, last member of the original Broadway team, has left the company. . . . Longtime club editor Ruth Kogan is one of those laid off at Bookspan. . . . Larry Hughes, who remained at Morrow following the sale to HarperCollins, will retire at the end of the year. . . . Variety (via publisherslunch) reports that Joe Veltre has joined Talk Miramax Books as an editor at large while also working for Miramax as director of development. Veltre was briefly at HarperCollins, and before that, at St. Martin’s. . . . Colin Robinson, longtime MD of Verso until recently, has been named publisher of The New Press.

In museum publications news: After 14 years, Ann Lucke is leaving the Metropolitan Museum’s Publications department to join The Getty in the same managing editorial position. She is filling the position recently vacated by Mark Greenberg, who has been named Editor-in-Chief. In the meantime the Getty is looking to fill a newly created operations position, and the Met has hired Susan Bresnan, also in the new position of Image Acquisitions Manager.

Promotions: Seth Radwell was promoted to President of Bookspan’s newly created Marketing and Editorial Group. He had been President and Chief Executive Officer of booksonline, the Internet division of Bookspan. . . . Carole Baron was appointed President of G.P. Putnam’s Sons. . . . Liate Stehlik was promoted to Associate Publisher at Pocket Books. She was previously Publishing Director. Warner Bros. Consumer Products announced that Michael Harkavy was promoted to SVP, international content and creative affairs. He was previously VP, Publisher, Kids! WB Music and Interactive Entertainment.

DULY NOTED

A colloquium co-sponsored by the Folger Library was held in Washington, DC on Nov. 8-10 to discuss the “impact of the digital medium on libraries, publishers, and society.” By 2020, the 40 participants (from Bertelsmann, Library of Congress, etc.) predicted, printed books and journals would not disappear but would co-exist with the newer electronic forms of publishing, though the roles and functions of publishers and libraries will change radically by that time. Meanwhile, as universal access to knowledge would become theoretically possible, “Host-country infrastructure and intellectual property rights will be critical to the worldwide adoption of electronic publishing as the de-facto communication standard.” Glad we got that straight.

• Books for a Better Life announces the lineup for its Feb. 12 Awards Ceremony, when Deepak Chopra will be inducted in the BBL Hall of Fame. ABC’s Meredith Vieira and HBO’s Karen Duffy will be on hand to help emcee. Hats off to publishing veteran Scott Manning, who founded the awards, and continues his pro bono leadership of them.

• “Publishing Predictions — Past and Present Visions of the Future,” presented by Small Press Center and Publishers Weekly, which was originally scheduled for Monday, Nov. 12, has been postponed until Small Press Month, March 2002. Email info@smallpress.org for details.

• In the November 19 edition of iMarketing News, Al Ries and Laura Ries, marketing strategists, make a case for Amazon to scale back its business to the core — books, music, and videos, which account for 58% of its business and all of its profit. And if it doesn’t? “Make no mistake about it, Amazon is headed for history’s scrap heap.” They argue, however, that Jeff Bezos would have a hard time retrenching, after positioning himself as an online department store. What the Ries’ really argue for, though, is brand segmentation. Amazon should move its other categories under other brand names, like Levi’s did with Dockers, and Black & Decker did with its professional line of tools. Otherwise, they warn, Amazon could end up the Polaroid of the web.

• Bloomsbury is publishing a “Celebratory Edition” of Philosopher’s Stone, to mark the sales of 113+ million Harry Potter books worldwide. And that’s before taking into account sales from the movie tie-ins.

DECEMBER DATES

There isn’t much going on this month, other than the big ones: Hannukah (begins December 9), Christmas, Kwanzaa (begins December 26), and New Year’s (start whenever you wish).

• Harry Evans will take on Jerome Charyn, author of Sizzling Chops & Devilish Spins: Ping-Pong and the Art of Staying Alive, in a game of — you guessed — ping pong, on December 6 at 6:30 pm at the Manhattan Table Tennis Club, 2628 Broadway. Contact rmorse@morse-partners.com for details.

• Michael Cader’s next December 11 Live Lunch event takes place December 11. The topic is LOOKING TO 2002, and panelists include David Kirkpatrick of the New York Times, Larry Kirshbaum of AOL Time Warner Trade Publishing, Carl Lennertz of BookSense, and New York Magazine’s Michael Wolff.

PARTIES

November was the big party month. First there was Book-of-the-Month’s 75th anniversary party at the Waldorf Astoria on November 7. Then the Mercantile Library hosted the second annual Clifton Fadiman Awards at its gala on November 13. Shirley Hazzard’s Transit of Venus won the $5000 award, which is sponsored by Bookspan. On November 14 the National Book Awards took place, with Steve Martin hosting. Then, on November 15 NBF Executive Director Neil Baldwin was the guest of honor at a party celebrating his new book, Henry Ford and the Jews, published by Peter Osnos’ Public Affairs.

MAZELTOV

To Context Books’ Beau Friedlander and Melissa Breyer on November 8th on the arrival of Ella Beatrice Friedlander.

IN MEMORIAM

Michael Hoffman, Publisher and Executive Director of Aperture, died on November 23. He had been at Aperture for 35 years.