Jackie Engel will join Little, Brown Children’s as vp, associate publisher on August 1, reporting to Megan Tingley. Previously she was vp, group sales director at Penguin Children’s, and in her new role, Engel will focus on list positioning and marketing strategy, new business development, and digital publishing.
At Simon & Schuster’s adult trade imprint, Dana Trocker has been promoted to associate director of marketing.
Carol Grossmeyer will retire as chief executive officer of 800-CEO-READ on September 1 after 8 years in the position and more than 40 years in the book business. Succeeding her is Rebecca Schwartz, currently chair of the company’s board of directors and daughter of the late David Schwartz (who was also Grossmeyer’s husband.) Grossmeyer said in the announcement: “800-CEO-READ is as much a reflection of the kind of company that David Schwartz intended as were the bookshops. David would be proud. It was an honor to accompany Jack [Covert] and all the wonderful people at 800-CEO-READ on this journey of regrowth and I am pleased to be able to pass the mantle into the capable hands of Rebecca Schwartz.” Schwartz added: “I am very much looking forward to this next chapter in my professional life, returning to the world in which I grew up and that my grandparents and father devoted their lives. Working with the smart and experienced people at 800-CEO-READ is an exciting and wonderful opportunity to continue the Schwartz legacy of bookselling.”
In the UK, Blackwell‘s picked Mary Beard‘s SPQR: A History of Ancient Rome as their 2016 Book of the Year.
Stats
A WSJ piece on the recent boon in digital audio gets to the heart of the matter by very last paragraphs: “Audible has been making audiobooks more visible to potential customers. It is providing audio clips for Amazon.com as well as Amazon’s book-recommendation site, Goodreads. Amazon also is more prominently featuring Audible’s Whispersync for Voice option, which allows e-book readers to toggle back and forth between an e-book and a discounted audiobook version…. Whispersync sales were up nearly 60% in 2015 compared with the previous year—a reflection of both its increased visibility and an uptick in available titles to around 100,000, according to Audible.