Promotions At Workman
After moving up to ceo of Workman Publishing five months ago and relocating to New York in October, Dan Reynolds has announced a number of promotions and new assignments, part of his work to shape how “we could all work together in a way that was most productive, efficient, inspiring, collegial, and conducive to growth.” While some of the changes are “global, with the goal of lifting all the imprints…others are designed to strengthen and grow Workman’s core book business.”
David Schiller has been promoted to group creative director, acting as Workman’s “in-house creative agency” and reporting to Reynolds. Workman associate publisher Page Edmunds will serve as publisher Susan Bolotin’s “full partner…focusing primarily on the editorial-sales connection,” in addition to serving as brand manager for What to Expect, Raichlen, 1,000 … Before You Die, and Boynton. Managing editor Claire McKean will report to Edmunds, as will the promotions department. Executive director of publicity and marketing Selina Meere will oversee an integration of Workman’s publicity and marketing departments and will manage all aspects of the newly combined department.
Executive director, new business development Jenny Mandel will report to Reynolds, and director of digital business Kate Travers will now report to Mandel. Emily Krasner moves up to director, special markets and custom publishing; as director, online retail accounts Randall Lotowycz will add responsibility for ebook business with Amazon/Kindle, Apple, Kobo, and Google, continuing to handle the print book business with Amazon.
Finally, in a move “to integrate the functions of the digital department into all aspects of what we do, executive director, digital strategy & operations Andrea Fleck-Nisbet will run a new department that “will create and maintain the tools we need to run our business and reach our customers.” She reports to Reynolds as well.
Executive Changes at McGraw-Hill
McGraw-Hill Education also announced executive realignments. K-12 president Peter Cohen is promoted to the new position of group president of US Education, also overseeing their higher ed and assessment groups. Higher ed president Brian Kibby “has decided to leave the company” and a replacement will be named “at a later date.” Christine Willig is promoted to president of the K-12 group. The privately-held company also said that sales for the first nine months of the year were $1.7 billion, up $45 million from a year ago after excluding purchase accounting adjustments.
David Godine Profiled
The Boston Globe celebrates publisher David Godine, who publishes recent Nobel winner Patrick Modiano. “What distinguishes Godine, 70, from the CEOs of other publishing companies is his obsessive attention to detail — editing manuscripts, choosing binding cloth, and even driving his 2008 Prius around New England to pitch booksellers on his latest titles. Last month, Godine, whose tufts of black hair make him look like the Tootsie Pop owl, spent a day slapping ‘Nobel Prize winner’ stickers on the Modiano books.”
The company’s bestselling book (with over 600,000 copies sold) is a public domain reprint, The American Boy’s Handy Book. “‘An editor here came to me and said we should do an edition of this. I said, ‘You’re out of your mind. Nobody needs to know how to skin small animals anymore,’ says Godine. ‘It’s the ugliest book we’ve ever published, but we keep selling the heck out of it.'”
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In author news, Dan Brown has joined Wattpad — posting How I Started Writing, along with portions of The Da Vinci Code.
Cengage Learning has hired John Leahy as cfo, starting December 1 in their Boston office. “His leadership will enable Cengage Learning to seek opportunities for growth and will ensure our overall financial health.” (Cengage came out of bankruptcy reorganization in April.) He was evp and cfo of Care.com. Cengage’s financial management team includes “several strategic new hires”: Bob Gibney, chief accounting officer and svp, financial planning & analysis; Frank Vari, svp, tax; and Richard Veith, svp, treasurer. John most recently served as , the world’s largest online marketplace for finding and managing family care, where he helped lead its successful Initial Public Offering.
Kathy Daneman has joined the Council of Literary Magazines and Presses as Director of Programs & Strategic Communications. She is also launching Kathy Daneman Public Relations. Previously she was publicity director for Portfolio, Sentinel, and Current.
Distribution News
As of January 1, 2015, Norton, Liveright, Countryman, and associated imprints will be represented for Spanish-language rights and Portugal by Casanovas & Lynch. The house had previously been represented by Balcells.
Ingram Publisher Services announced three news sales and distribution clients. Diversion Publishing is moving to Ingram from Perseus, and now has “almost 700 titles” on their list. They are joined by mystery publisher AMPress and start-up Inkshares, which is backed by Ingram’s ICG Ventures.