Publisher of Tarcher Perigee since 1996 Joel Fotinos has decided to leave the company. (He also founded the Putnam Praise publishing program in 2006.) Penguin Publishing Group president Madeline McIntosh writes to staff: “From his early days at Tarcher and throughout his career here, he has always been focused on publishing books that strive to make the world a better place, and as much as we will miss him, I know you will join me in supporting his decision to take that mission beyond our walls.” Avery publisher Megan Newman will become publisher for Avery and Tarcher Perigee, though the imprints will remain “independent editorial entities.”
At Gallery Books, Meagan Harris has been promoted to assistant director of publicity and Theresa Dooley has been promoted to Publicist.
At Macmillan Children’s, Mary Van Akin has been promoted to associate director of publicity; Morgan Dubin has been promoted to publicity manager; and Brittany Pearlman has been promoted to publicist.
Naoise McGee has joined AGI Vigliano as foreign rights consultant. She was most recently subsidiary rights associate at Farrar, Straus.
Saba Sulaiman has been promoted to associate agent at Talcott Notch Literary Services.
Michael Pickrum will join Cengage as evp, chief financial officer on November 20. Most recently he was chief strategy officer of edtech company EVERFI, prior to which he was cfo and evp of business development and strategy at BET Networks.
Eisner Award-winning graphic novelist Brian Fies is among those who lost his home in the California wildfires. He created and posted a comic about his experiences.
Forthcoming
Senator John McCain signed with longtime editor Jonathan Karp at Simon & Schuster in February for another memoir, prior to his brain cancer diagnosis in July. The publisher has announced THE RESTLESS WAVE: Good Times, Just Causes, Great Fights, and Other Appreciations for publication in April 2018. McCain is working with longtime collaborator Mark Salter, and the book promises his “no-holds-barred opinions” on the recent presidential election and the current climate in Washington, DC. Karp tells the AP, “This memoir will be about what matters most to him, and I hope it will be regarded as the work of an American hero.” Apparently, the original working title was It’s Always Darkest Before It’s Totally Black, which Salter says “was an old joke he employed often over the years. But the Senator thought it was too flip for some of the subjects he now wants to address.” Salter says they are “still a ways to go” before finishing the manuscript, but McCain is “hard at it.”
Distribution
Simon & Schuster has expanded their distribution relationship with Readerlink’s Printers Row Publishing Group. In addition to the Studio Fun line, they will take on book trade distribution for the Silver Dolphin Books, Thunder Bay Press, Canterbury Classics, and Portable Press imprints, starting January 1, 2018 in Canada and May 1 in the US.
Bookselling
San Francisco store Borderlands, which almost closed two and a half years ago, has made an offer on a new building and launched a campaign to raise the $1.9 million they need through customer loans.
Ithaca’s Buffalo Street Books will stay open after raising $50,000 in donations. The store has outstanding bills totaling $100,00 and will “seek to raise more money, fast” to keep operating.