The Book Industry Study Group has appointed Mark Kuyper, currently president and chief executive officer of the Evangelical Christian Publishers Association, as its newest executive director. Kuyper, who succeeds Len Vlahos, will start at BISG on June 15. “We were pleased to find an association veteran from within our industry with a long history of success,” said BISG chair Tara Catogge, who headed the search committee, in the announcement. “Mark has extensive strategic planning experience mixed with both an easy way and a commanding presence that members will welcome. His strong vision and guiding hand is exactly what BISG needs at this crucial time in our development.”
Kuyper added: “I am thrilled to join the team at BISG. The organization has a rich history of bringing peers together to solve problems, advance new ideas, and enable the profitable delivery of content to readers — I’ve been proud to be involved in that mission as a Board member, and am honored to have the opportunity to now lead the staff. I am thankful to the Board and staff for the outstanding work they have done to set the stage for the next wave of change in the industry, and look forward to jumping in as quickly as possible to build on that foundation.”
Jessica Shoffel will join Little, Brown Books for Young Readers as director of publicity on June 8. She was most recently associate director of publicity at Penguin Young Readers.
Terry Newell has joined Insight Editions as head of sales & marketing. Previously he was president at Weldon Owen. In addition, Julie Hamilton has been promoted to sales director, succeeding Byron Parnell, who is leaving the company to pursue another employment opportunity.
Distribution
Hachette Book Group will take over sales and distribution of all titles by Kids Can Press as of February 1, 2016.
Trajectory is partnering with Chinese ebookstore Dangdang on a digital distribution deal which will see Trajectory make available ebooks from more than 100 clients (including newly added Learner, Boom! Studios, and Futa-Fata) to the retailer.