PEOPLE ROUNDUP Seven people have been laid off from Kaplan, including Director of National Accounts, Bill Huelster (who may be reached at bhuelster [at] gmail.com) and Yulia Borodyanskaya, International Sales and Subsidiary Rights (yborodyanskaya [at] yahoo.com). Kaplan is moving the selling responsibility to its distributor, Simon & Schuster, and Mary Dolan, Executive Director of Sales,…Continue Reading
PEOPLE In a reorganization of the books group, Linda Cunningham, Editorial Director at Meredith has been laid off along with 15 other people. She can be reached at 215.752.2664, or at lindacunningham1@hotmail.com. HarperCollins has hired Steve Ross as President and Publisher, Collins, reporting to Brian Murray. He had been Publisher of Crown. George Bick, SVP…Continue Reading
PEOPLE So much for summer doldrums: André Bernard VP Publisher of Harcourt is leaving to become a vice president at the Guggenheim Foundation, starting after Labor Day. He replaces Thomas Tanselle, who is retiring after 28 years. Harcourt’s current Editor-in-Chief and Associate Publisher, Rebecca Saletan, will take over as Publisher. Jill Cohen, former Bulfinch Publisher,…Continue Reading
The Rise and Fall and Rise of the Publishing Convention, Seminar, and Summit In the golden years of the publishing conference, 400 people clamoring for access to a panel, summit or seminar, wasn’t unheard of. Some frequenters admit to going to upwards of 10 conferences a year in the late 1990′s techno boom, while others…Continue Reading
Distributors Reshuffle the Deck – Signing Up Clients As Publishers Proliferate, Ingram Jumps In As Baker & Taylor Gets Out Bowker reports that 2004 saw the birth of 11,000 new ISBNs in the US, bringing the grand total to a whopping 81,000 publishers. From the largest to the smallest, everyone’s looking to get to market,…Continue Reading
PEOPLE The latest changes under PW’s new management include the departures of Jeff Zaleski, John Mutter, and two other staffers. This follows the arrival of Karen Holt as Deputy Editor mid-month. Ivan Held has been named President of Putnam. Held, who was most recently VP Associate Publisher of Warner Books, will begin his new position…Continue Reading
People April is the cruelest month for some; but for others, it’s been a banner one. And for the industry as a whole, there’s been a whirlwind of activity, with enough moves, consolidations, entries and exits to rival a Feydeau or Frayn farce. Sara Nelson, Glamour’s Senior Contributing Editor, Books, and columnist for The New…Continue Reading
PEOPLE Neil Ortenberg, EVP of the Avalon Publishing Group and Publisher of Thunders Mouth/Nation Books has resigned. He may be reached at (917) 620-4435. Becky Saletan is joining Harcourt as Editor in Chief in June. She was Editorial Director of North Point Press. Tina Pohlmann is also joining as Senior Editor, Harvest. She was Senior…Continue Reading
Are Bulked-Up Book Distributors The Industry’s Next Goliaths? Time was, you would call a guy like Gilbert Perlman a book distributor. The warehouse, the sales staff, the publishing clients, even the name on the door — Client Distribution Services — all fit the modus operandi of firms schlepping books from the presses to the masses….Continue Reading
PEOPLE Mark Pattis, who had been CEO of Tribune Education, but left in March, right before the division was put on the market (it was just sold to McGraw-Hill), has become an investor. He is a partner in Next Chapter Holdings, a company that invests in a number of areas, including books, magazines, and digital…Continue Reading
