Maja Thomas has been promoted to chief innovation officer at Hachette Libre and joins the company’s international executive board. Previously svp of Hachette Digital and Audio at HBG USA, Thomas rejoined Hachette Livre last year as director of Hachette’s Innovation Program. Based in California, Thomas “works internationally across the company’s divisions to facilitate collaboration with start-ups and established global technological players, and accelerate digital transformation.” In her new
role she “will further support all of Hachette Livre teams as they test, innovate and break new ground, in particular using big data and artificial intelligence.” CEO Arnaud Nourry says in the announcement, “This appointment shows that innovation is a top priority for Hachette Livre in the ever-changing world we live in.”
Whitney Ross has joined the Irene Goodman Agency, representing middle grade, young adult, and adult fiction across all genres, with an emphasis on historical, SF & fantasy, romance, and contemporary fiction. She is also open to non-fiction submissions in the areas of design, cooking, and fashion. She was a senior editor for Tor Teen, Tor, and Forge, working at Macmillan for the past decade.
Managing director of Quarto Partners and a member of the company’s senior management team David Inman “has decided to leave Quarto at the end of February.” He has overseen Quarto’s distribution services across the US and the UK as well as their international publishing partnerships.
Janine Perez has joined Random House Children’s as marketing manager. Previously she was a marketing manager at Simon & Schuster Children’s. In addition, Kelly McGauley has been promoted to assistant director, trade marketing; Hannah Black moves up to marketing manager; Jules Kelly has been promoted to assistant marketing manager; Audrey Steuerwald moves up to design manager; and Andrea Comerford has been promoted to marketing coordinator.
At Chronicle Books, Jennifer Tolo Pierce has been promoted to design director, children’s publishing; and Julia Patrick has been promoted to associate editor. Madison Killen has joined as children’s marketing manager. Previously she was manager of creative content at Penguin Young Readers.
Following the replacement of top management earlier in the month, F+W chief content officer Steve Madden and vp, director, books sales and marketing Allison Devlin are also leaving the company, Publishing Trends reports.
Linda Kaplan at Kaplan/Defiore Rights will exclusively represent James Patterson‘s translation rights starting February 1.
Franklin & Siegal has been named US scout for Yedioth Books in Israel, for adult, YA and middle-grade.
Eleonoora Kirk has joined Bonnier Rights Sweden as an agent for fiction and film, based in London and selling rights for adult fiction and narrative nonfiction on behalf of the Stockholm-based agency, including TV and film rights for selected authors. She was at the Elina Ahlback Literary Agency, after working with Elisabet Brännström at Andrew Nurnberg Associates.
Lizzy Kremer at David Higham Associates has taken over from Gordon Wise as president of the UK’s Association of Authors’ Agents. Isobel Dixon at Blake Friedmann was elected vice president.
Obituary
Longtime publishing executive Robert Paris Riger, 57, died on January 26 of complications from the flu. An author and co-founder of Market Partners International, he also served as president of the Doubleday Book Club, and most recently was vp & director of the Pimsleur Language Programs. Riger was co-authoring with Mike Shatzkin “Book Publishing: What Everyone Needs to Know,” which Oxford University Press will publish in 2019. A memorial gathering will be held on Friday, March 2, from 5:30-8 PM, at the Rizzoli Bookstore in New York. In lieu of flowers, please send donations to Callen-Lorde Community Health Center.