As part of a number of promotions and changes at Ballantine Bantam Dell’s Del Rey Spectra imprint, editor-in-chief Betsy Mitchell will retire from Random house in December after more than 10 years at her position, and after more than 30 years as an editor in the science fiction and fantasy genre. Mitchell is leaving to launch her own editorial services company and to head up the Christian education department at her church in Brooklyn.
Among the authors Mitchell edited during her career were William Gibson, Michael Chabon, Terry Brooks, Octavia Butler, Naomi Novik, Timothy Zahn, Dan Simmons, Peter F. Hamilton, and Marion Zimmer Bradley. “I remember meeting Betsy on my first day in publishing; she was a senior editor for Bantam Spectra and I looked up to her from the first moment,” said RHPG editorial director Jennifer Hershey in a statement. “I was in awe of how much she knew and the authors she had worked with; she had an incredible amount of knowledge of this beloved genre and an immense amount of editorial wisdom.”
Also at Del Rey Spectra, Tricia Pasternak has been promoted to editorial director, where she will oversee both the editorial department in Del Rey’s traditional sf and fantasy publishing and content for the imprint’s IP business. Keith Clayton will add the additional responsibility of associate publisher to his existing role of director of creative development for the IP group. Anne Groell moves up to executive editor, and Frank Parisi joins as in-house coordinator for all of the imprint’s Star Wars titles, while also leading Del Rey Spectra’s licensed tie-in initiatives.
There won’t be a settlement-backed Book Rights Registry anytime in the near future and Michael Healy, who has been a minister-without-portfolio ever since 2009 when he took over as executive director of the organization in formation, has taken a real job. He will join the Copyright Clearance Center in October as executive director, author and publisher relations, “responsible for the development of new products in service of the author and publisher communities.” Which raises the tantalizing question of whether CCC intends to join in quiet efforts under discussion to build something like the Registry through industry cooperation.
The release says that “as CCC expands its business models to address a broader set of licensing issues facing its customers, Healy will be instrumental in helping to devise and implement future strategies to address challenging market gaps including ebook rights, Orphan Works and digital rights for other pre-existing works.”
CEO Tracey Armstrong says in the announcement, “I look forward to working with Michael as CCC continues to work closely with authors, publishers and their representatives to provide efficient licensing solutions that meet the needs of corporate, government and academic users, and result in royalties for rightsholders for the use of both in-print and out-of-print works.”
Andrews McMeel Publishing has hired Andrea Colvin for the new role of vp, content/executive producer, starting October 17. She will oversee the book publishing creative team and will direct both digital and print content development, reporting to president Kirsty Melville. Most recently, Colvin was director of publishing operations at Open Road.
At Little, Brown Children’s, Tina McIntyre has been promoted to executive director, digital business development and operations, reporting to deputy publisher Andrew Smith, starting October 17. She will oversee and direct all digital publishing initiatives and divisional operations.
At Palgrave Macmillan, Karen Wolny has been named editorial director of trade and professional books. Previously she was editorial director of LearningExpress. In addition, Luba Ostashevsky has been promoted to senior editor, trade, and Samantha Hasey moves up to editor for the academic Business and Economics list.
In the UK at Bonnier’s start-up Hot Key Books, Emily Thomas has been hired as publisher and Sara O’Connor will be editorial director print and digital, with their starting date to be named later. Both have been at Hodder Children’s.