After more than two years at HarperCollins, where she was executive editor at It Books, Esther Margolis is leaving the company on February 14 and reclaiming the Newmarket Press. She will establish a new publishing and media venture to agent, package and consult on books, publishing, marketing and cross-media strategies, especially in the film and entertainment area. Margolis founded Newmarket Press in 1981 and sold the company and backlist to Harper in 2011. She will assume full rights to the Newmarket Press name and logo after the fall season launch.
At Inkwell Literary Management, Allison Hunter and Lauren Smythe have both been promoted to agent.
At The Experiment, Nicholas Cizek and Molly Cavanaugh have both been promoted to associate editor.
At Chronicle Books, Ali Presley has been promoted to associate director, online marketing.
Former CNN correspondent Alino Cho (host of their Fashion: Backstage Pass) will join Ballantine Bantam Dell as editor-at-large, acquiring fashion and style projects.
In annual SEC filings, Books-A-Million investor Harsha Gowda disclosed that sometime within the past year he raised his stake in the company to 5.9 percent, while Dimensional Fund Advisors indicated their stake in BAMM is virtually unchanged, now 5.88 percent. Separately, Dimensional indicated in their annual filing that they increased their shares in Barnes & Noble slightly during 2013, now holding 7.9 percent of shares, up a few hundred thousand shares to 4.74 million in all.
