Nina von Moltke has been promoted to the new position of evp, director, publishing development and author platforms at Penguin Random House, continuing to ceo Markus Dohle, and she joins the Penguin Random House North America board as well. Now reporting to von Moltke are Peter Gethers in his role as president of Penguin Random House Studio and John Schline, svp, corporate director, business affairs in his role overseeing the contracts department, as they “bring the contracts teams across Penguin Random House even more closely together.” She continues her other responsibilities as well, including oversight of Penguin Random House Audio and digital product development for apps and ebooks.
Dohle writes: “As the opportunities to connect with content and authors are multiplying, Nina will explore additional innovative publishing- and author-focused business ideas in close cooperation with the publishing teams and territories. She is a trusted advisor and critical go-to person for them and for me, and I know she will be instrumental in facilitating open dialogue and ensuring alignment for different approaches as we think through pressing challenges and create new opportunities for our authors together.” Von Moltke “has been collaborating closely with the publishing teams to build and expand a range of author-based services and platforms,” including the revamped PRH Author Portal, the PRH Speakers Bureau, and a cross-divisional digital video team that aims “to develop programming that will allow readers to engage more deeply with our authors and build excitement for their books.”
In other Penguin Random House news, Business Insider Australia reports that Penguin’s cookbook imprint Lantern is cutting back its publishing program for 2016 and founding publishing director Julie Gibbs will leave the company at the end of this year. “Regarded as the doyenne of food publishers,” Gibbs started Lantern in 2004.
Penguin Random House Australian CEO Gabrielle Coyne says, “The prevailing market conditions mean there is no longer the retail footprint there once was to support the number of illustrated books in our future 2016 and 2017 program. With this changing base, we are unable to achieve the commercial success we and our authors desire.”