Bloomsbury India will start publishing in November, drawing on titles from the company’s UK and US lists. Rajiv Beri is managing director; Diya KarHazra is trade publisher, and Amit Bhatia is academic and professional publisher.
Douglas Markham, recently fired by Books-a-Million from his position as evp and chief administrative officer, alleges through attorney Mark White that “for some time, BAMM has made it known to our client that the company did not support his service to the US Navy.” Markham is a captain, and as BAMM had reported previously, was on leave for part of 2009 while on active duty in the Navy. White tells the Birmingham News, “We are currently investigating the facts and circumstances related to the decision of Books-A-Million to terminate our client’s employment.”
Wiley’s board of directors elected Jesse Wiley, a seventh-generation descendant of the company founder and currently responsible for digital and new business initiatives within Wiley’s Professional/Trade business under the Jossey-Bass and Pfeiffer imprints. Former board chairman Bradford Wiley and Warren J. Baker have also retired from the board.
The Rogue Reader is the latest agency-backed digital-publishing venture, which will officially launch in early October at Bouchercon. Run by Movable Type Management’s Jason Ashlock and Adam Chromy, the venture will focus on publishing “original, outsider suspense fiction” in DRM-free files. They are using Press Books to create and sample the ebooks.
Ashlock tells Writing on the Ether “that this is your third option. You get the benefit and flexibility and independence of self-publishing, in that you keep your rights and way more of your royalties. But you also get all the virtues of traditional publishing — quality editorial, quality design, the sense of being curated and chosen, capital-infused marketing and publicity — all as part of a community.” Ashlock says they intend to stay focused on only one author a month.
Dial’s editorial director is being given an eponymous imprint with Penguin Children’s, Kathy Dawson Books. Launching in late 2014, Dawson will target “emotionally driven” middle grade and YA fiction, PW writes.
Anica Rissi has moved within Simon & Schuster Children’s to join Katherine Tegen Books as executive editor. Previously she was executive editor at Simon Pulse.
Franklin & Siegal Associates has been named literary scout for AMC Networks for TV, under the direction of Erin Hennicke.