Sanj Kharbanda has been promoted to svp, digital markets at Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. In his expanded role “he will be responsible for driving digital market strategy across all consumer facing touchpoints in the corporation,” looking beyond trade to include their K-12 and consumer markets.
Grand Central Publishing announced a number of recent promotions. In editorial, Emily Griffin, Michele Bidelspach, and Alex Logan have been promoted to senior editor. Megha Parekh has been promoted to associate editor, while Libby Burton and Lindsey Rose move up to assistant editor.
Sonya Cheuse has been promoted to deputy director of publicity, while Caitlin Mulrooney-Lyski moves up to publicity manager and Julie Paulauski moves up to associate publicist. Marissa Sangiacomo has been promoted to publicist for Forever and Forever Yours, and Tony Forde has been promoted to associate publicist for the Twelve imprint. Finally, Jane Lee has been promoted to online marketing associate.
Tracy Devine has been promoted to executive editor at Ballantine Bantam Dell, where she has worked for 20 years, joining what was Dell Delacorte in 1994.
Christine Frietchen has joined the Crown Community Development Team as community manager. Previously she was a digital content consultant for Random House.
Ron Hogan has joined Judith Regan’s new company Regan Arts as an editor, acquiring both fiction and non-fiction. He has been a contributing editor for Shelf Awareness.
George Lossius will step down as chief executive of Publishing Technology “in the near future,” while retaining a seat on the board. He says “it is the right time to transition the leadership of Publishing Technology from having a focus of product development, to one that focuses more on business development and implementation, and that it is right to do so under a new CEO.” The company is “in the process of agreeing the appointment of his replacement which will be announced in due course.”
Simon & Schuster’s newest publisher-agnostic website and daily email is Off the Shelf, devoted to previously published books — similar to the model announced about a month ago for 250 words, their site about business books. Associate publisher at the S&S Publishing Group Suzanne Donohue oversees the site, which will include a daily review or essay on a book published no earlier than one year ago (but still available in print and/or digital formats), curated reading lists, and more. Content will largely be provided by S&S employees and authors, with occasional guest entries from other “authors and editors of import.”