Amazon’s director of author and publisher relations Jon Fine “has decided to leave the company at the end of the year,” according to internal announcement cited by Porter Anderson. The note from Charles Kronbach says, “Over the last seven years, he has represented Amazon at hundreds of publishing and author events around the world, helping to raise awareness about the myriad opportunities Amazon offers to the storytelling community. More to come on transition as we move towards Jon’s departure at year’s end.” Fine first joined Amazon in 2006 as director of copyright and media law.
At Viking Penguin, Melanie Tortoroli has been promoted to editor.
At Marsal Lyon Literary Agency, Patricia Nelson has been promoted to agent, representing adult and young adult fiction.
Meredith Wilson has been promoted to social media manager at Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Children’s.
Publishers Communication Group has hired Erika Valenti as global sales director, based in Boston, leading their content sales team.
Following the WSJ’s report based on an anonymous source that the Authors Guild met with the antitrust division of the Department of Justice in August, the Guild posted confirmation for their members: “The Guild started its own initiative to invite governmental scrutiny of Amazon’s outsize market share and anticompetitive practices in the publishing industry. Last summer the Guild prepared a White Paper on Amazon’s anticompetitive conduct, circulating it to the United States Department of Justice and other government entities. As a result of our request for the initiation of an investigation of Amazon, we hosted a meeting with the DOJ in our offices on August 1 so that a group of authors could make their case directly to the government.” The Guild is not releasing that white paper to the public for now.
Canada’s International Festival of Authors announced that Margaret MacMillan is the new recipient of the Harbourfront Festival Prize, “based on the merits of her published work and her contributions to fostering the next generation of literary talent.”