Joy Bean has joined Little Bee Books as senior editor, licensed publishing. She was previously an editor at Marshall Cavendish and the associate children’s book editor at Publishers Weekly.
Jen Loja has been promoted to svp, associate publisher at Penguin Children’s, reporting to Don Weisberg. He said in the announcement that Loja “is an essential contributor to and supporter of every department within our group. She works closely (but never intrusively), with our ten publishers in the curation of their lists, ensuring each of our titles is given the requisites and the opportunities to reach its widest potential readership. In her consideration of every component of our daily and long-term publishing dynamic, Jen’s attention to the big picture, and to the small details, is what keeps us all together.”
Founder and editor of CatholicMom.com Lisa Hendey has joined Ave Maria Press as editor-at-large, acquiring books in all areas of Catholic life and spirituality.
Initiatives
Kobo has introduced a new loyalty program called Kobo SuperPoints, in which customers in the US, UK, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand can earn points with every ebook and magazine purchase they make online or with Kobo’s free reading app. The program has a free level (where customers earn 100 SuperPoints for every $10 spent, redeemed after 2400 points) or for a $10 fee, VIP Members earn double the points per purchase and get access to a variety of discounts and special offers.
Apple is taking a big step in expanding their paid entertainment stores, including the iBooks Store (as well as Apple Music and iTunes Movies) to customers in China. The company says it is providing a “wide selection of both paid and free Chinese language books from top local publishers,” including “for the first time in China, Stephenie Meyer’s ‘Twilight.'”
Random House has relaunched its romance platform, formerly known as Romance at Random, as a twice-weekly email newsletter called The Smitten Word.