LeeEric Fesko has been promoted to associate publisher for Harper Christian’s specialty division, which includes Thomas Nelson gift books, Zondervan gift books, Tommy Nelson children’s books, children’s Bibles, and new media.
Emma House was promoted to deputy chief executive at the Publishers Association in the UK.
Imprints
Atria is adding a Skybound Books imprint, co-publishing sci-fi, fantasy and horror with Skybound Entertainment (The Walking Dead). The line will publish four to six titles a year, with Michael Braff as senior editor in LA, reporting to newly-promoted Skybound Entertainment svp, editor-in-chief Sean Mackiewicz. (Braff was at Del Rey.) Peter Borland and Jhanteigh Kupihea will work on the line at Atria. Skybound Entertainment chairman Robert Kirkman says in the announcement,”We are on a relentless search to find different ways to tell the stories from some the most creative minds out there, and Skybound Books imprint is a very important component of that endeavor.”
Yen Press is adding JY, an imprint for middle grade graphic novels, named for deputy publisher JuYoun Lee. It launches in the fall, and will publish approximately 12 books a year.
Forthcoming
George R.R. Martin updated fans through his Livejournal page on the status of the unfinished Winds of Winter: “I am still working on it, I am still months away (how many? good question), I still have good days and bad days, and that’s all I care to say.” Another project, the first of a two-volume collection of fake histories of the Targaryen kings called Fire and Blood, is “likely” for publication in late 2018 or 2019. “Whether WINDS or the first volume of FIRE AND BLOOD will be the first to hit the bookstores is hard to say at this juncture, but I do think you will have a Westeros book from me in 2018… and who knows, maybe two.”
Bookselling
A new children’s book store, Book & Puppet Company, will open in Easton, PA on August 12. Owners Rebecca Migda and Andrew Laties, who previously owned the Children’s Bookstore in Chicago, also plan to sell toys and host free workshops.
Martin Schmutterer is leaving Common Good Books in St. Paul, MN, after 6 years as manager.