HarperCollins has announced some adjustments in their General Books group, driven by It Books publisher Cal Morgan‘s move to the Harper division as svp, executive editor. (He will continue as editorial director of Harper Perennial and Harper paperbacks as well.)
Lynn Grady has been promoted to svp, publisher of It Books, now reporting as part of the Morrow division to publisher Liate Stehlik. Grady continues as deputy publisher of Morrow/Voyager/Avon as well. Newmarket Press will also operate as part of the Morrow division, while Harper Design becomes part of the Harper Division.
At Melville House, Kelly Burdick has been promoted to associate publisher.
James Phirmam has joined Houghton Mifflin Harcourt as national account manager selling to the wholesale clubs and grocery chains. Previously he was senior sales manager at Lonely Planet. In addition, Jessica Gilo has been named marketing specialist for HMH’s culinary team. Previously she was assistant marketing manager, special sales, at Hachette.
Greg Mortimer has joined Simon & Schuster Digital as senior online marketing manager. Previously he was online marketing manager at Scribner.
Margaret Bail has joined Inklings Literary Agency, where she will continue to represent romance, thrillers, mystery, science fiction, fantasy, westerns, and historical fiction. Previously she was at the Andrea Hurst Agency.
Royalty Share co-founder and chairman and ceo Bob Kohn has left the company, to work on a book. Royalty Share board member Jeff Rich moves up to chairman and co-founder Steve Grady remains as president of technology solutions. Kohn retains his equity interest in the company will continue as an advisor.
Sourcebooks ceo Dominique Raccah will be honored as “entrepreneurial champion” at the The Committee of 200’s annual Luminary Awards in October. (C200 is an organization of successful women entrepreneurs and corporate leaders.)
INscribe Digital has hired Randall Jones for their Publisher Client Services team (he was previously with Alibris.com, Perseus Books Group and Publishers Group West) and Katy Beehler for their content ingestion & distribution team (she was previously with Borders Books).
In awards news, NBF 5 Under 35 author Claire Vaye Watkins won the New York Public Library’s Young Lions Award for BATTLEBORN.
Gerbrand Bakker has won the Independent Foreign Fiction Prize for THE DETOUR (published in the US as TEN WHITE GEESE.)
In announcements, the Association of Educational Publishers is merging with the School Division of the Association of American Publishers (AAP). “A new division within AAP will be created and structured pursuant to the merger agreement following its completion.” The two have worked together in recent years on the creation of the Healthy Guidelines for Educational Publishing, the Digital Learning Leadership Briefing on Capitol Hill, the annual Content in Context conference.
McIntosh & Otis issued a statement clarifying their agency relationship with Harper Lee, who is currently embroiled in a copyright lawsuit with Sam Pinkus, her former agent (and son-in-law of the agency’s current ceo Eugene Winick) : “McIntosh& Otis had no knowledge of, or involvement in, the alleged scheme of Sam Pinkus to deprive Harper Lee of her copyrights, which is the subject of the current lawsuit. This lawsuit is solely between Mr. Pinkus and Ms. Lee.”
We misspelled the name of Simon & Schuster’s new vp, global ebook market and development strategy: it’s Doug Stambaugh. And in our nonfiction buzz book preview post, we added two extra days to Sheri Fink’s FIVE DAYS AT MEMORIAL.