Simon & Schuster is creating a dedicated digital sales team as well as a new retail sales force comprised of national accounts, field sales and telemarketing. The company is also pursuing what ceo Carolyn Reidy calls an “even greater focus on marketing, at both the imprint and the corporate level.” New marketing staff will be added to each of the company’s imprints, and the children’s marketing team will move back to the children’s division.
Liz Perl will now report directly to Reidy, and the company’s digital group under Ellie Hirschhorn will add “responsibility for our corporate social media efforts, and continue to develop larger cross-imprint publishing and marketing opportunities.”
Reidy also notes that, “Unfortunately, even as we are adding staff in some areas to pursue new opportunities, we have had to make some difficult decisions about the size of our staff in sales, and an equivalent number of positions are being eliminated so that our organization better reflects the realities of today’s marketplace.” VP and director of national accounts Lauren Monaco, vp director of field sales Frank Fochetta and an unspecified number of other employees are leaving the company.
Running those new sales teams are Paula Amendolara, as senior director of that new retail sales channel, and Colin Shields, senior director of digital sales. Both will report to evp, sales and marketing Michael Selleck. A new senior director of special sales will be appointed later.