Abrams announced a number of promotions in its marketing and publicity departments. Veronica Wasserman has been promoted to brand director, Diary of a Wimpy Kid, a new position. In the adult trade department, Jennifer Brunn has been promoted to senior director of publicity and Claire Bamundo moves up to director, publicity and brand strategy. In addition, Marisa Dobson has been promoted to senior publicist and Merle Brown adds the responsibilities of manager, corporate events to her role as executive assistant to the ceo.
Former Abrams executive director of publicity Katrina Weidknecht recently left the company after six years to move to Denver. Weidknecht will be working freelance this fall and can be reached at kweidknecht@gmail.com.
Mike Zuccato joins Sourcebooks as director of online marketing, responsible for managing all online, e-commerce and digital marketing promotions. Previously he was e-commerce manager at Winston Brands. In addition, Lyron Bennett has been named business manager, responsible for managing all properties and brands for Put Me In The Story, moving over from the company’s education group.
Sally Feller has joined Spry Publishing as marketing and publicity manager. She was previously senior publicist at Tor/Forge. In addition, Jeremy Sterling has been promoted to director of business development.
In the UK, Mark Richards will join John Murray as editorial director on October 1. He is currently commissioning editor for Fourth Estate. In addition, Jamie Joseph will join the Consumer Learning department as senior commissioning editor on September 2. Previously he was senior editor at Harper UK.
Charlotte Robertson will move to United Agents in September. She has been at Aitken Alexander.
Peter Gethers is featured in a Vanity Fair interview, in connection with the release of his novel ASK BOB (which was one of the 40 big fall titles sampled in our free Publishers Lunch Buzz Books 2013: Fall/Winter).
He notes that Random House Television is developing Amy Thielen’s forthcoming September cookbook The New Midwestern Table into an “unscripted TV personality show” and has just sold the series. “My television division in this instance will not get rich from one show with the food network. However, there’s a good chance this could sell hundreds of thousands of copies of books.”
On publishing, Gethers comments: “If I were 21, I would so jump into publishing right now. I think the future is going to be all interconnected, and I think publishing will morph into something, frankly, like what I’m trying to do. People will be allowed and encouraged to be more entrepreneurial, and you’ll be encouraged to work in things you’re interested in. Books still have so much value in and of themselves, but also value as a way to launch not just thoughts and substance but brands and products . . . a cookbook can lead to a food show . . . to a YouTube channel, a blog with a fan base. So many areas in which to expand, but a whole different way of thinking.”
In other forthcoming fall books, Atria announced publication of The Secret author Rhonda Byrne’s THE HERO for November 19.