Norton is relaunching the literary imprint Liveright and Company under the direction of Robert Weil, who has been named publisher and editor-in-chief of the imprint. Liveright, founded by Horace Liveright (along with Albert Boni) in 1917 and whose assets Norton bought in 1974, will publish up to 20 books a year beginning in spring 2012, mostly comprised of serious non-fiction as well as literary fiction, graphic novels and works in translation.
“It has long been my hope to reinvigorate the Liveright imprint and to build upon its tradition of publishing outstanding works that define and redefine our culture,” Norton chairman and president W. Drake McFeely said in a statement “Under the editorial guidance of Robert Weil, Liveright will no doubt be able to do just that.” Weil added: “I am thrilled to be able to take the lead in creating a twenty-first- century Liveright. It is immensely gratifying to know that now, in 2011-when so many pundits bemoan the collapse of traditional publishing and speak of a world in which the Internet has ravaged the human attention span-Norton stands ready to move even more strongly in the direction of enduring quality.”
At HarperOne, Laina Adler has been promoted to senior director of marketing.
At HarperCollins UK, Simon Johnson has been promoted to managing director, Tom Fussell moves up to commercial director, and David Alford has been promoted to financial controller, all effective July 1.
Northstar Travel Media is partnering with Rosetta eBooks on a new travel guide series, Destination, for leisure and business visitors. The initial 32 guides, focused on summer travel, are available exclusively for the Kindle and are priced at $2.99.
RR Donnelley has acquired writing community and social publishing platform Helium, in which it took an equity position back in September 2009, for an undisclosed sum.
Vintage Crime/Black Lizard launches a new mobile-driven website devoted to crime fiction, Weekly Lizard, featuring updated articles and news about current and forthcoming books (both on the Vintage/Black Lizard list and from other publishers) and news about film and television adaptations.
Weekly Lizard
Finally, in our haste in sending out Tuesday’s dispatch, we managed to mangle the surname of Verlagsgruppe Random House’s spokeswoman, Claudia Limmer.