Hachette Book Group’s svp, director of marketing strategy Heather Fain is leaving on November 30 after 20 years with the company to become chief marketing officer at Pushkin Industries, the podcast company launched by Jacob Weisberg and Malcolm Gladwell. CEO Michael Pietsch notes in part, “She has been a great colleague, a mentor, and a leader, and we are going to miss her very much.” He says they “will begin a search for a replacement immediately.”
Pronoy Sarkar is moving over from Picador USA to serve as associate editor for All Points Books.
Ian Reilly has been promoted to vp, demand planning and reprint production at Simon & Schuster Children’s.
BookBub has created a new partner relations team to focus specifically on publisher relations. Annie Stone, formerly international account manager for the team, has been named publisher relations lead. Wade Lucas joins the company as the new international account manager (he was senior agent director at Penguin Random House’s speaker’s bureau); and Kayin Patton has been hired as account coordinator for the new group. Morgan Hubbard and Caitlin Ellis continue to manage BookBub’s US publisher partnerships.
Mary Anne Thompson Associates has been appointed US book scout for Neri Pozza in Italy, starting December 1.
Forthcoming
Quercus announced that the next book in David Lagercrantz‘s continuation of the late Stieg Larsson‘s Millennium series will be called The Girl Who Lived Twice, publishing August 22, 2019.
Imprints
Portfolio will add an Optimism Press line, aiming to publish three to five titles in 2019. House author Simon Sinek serves as “chief optimist,” with Adrian Zackheim as publisher. “Simon and I have been informally working together for years to find and promote promising new voices in leadership and public service,” Zackheim said. “Based on our record of success, we’ve decided to take our collaboration to the next level and build a new imprint together. Simon is committed to curating Optimism Press’s list of authors, to participate in the editorial process, and to actively promote every new book.”
Awards
In the steady stream of UK-based prizes:
Serhii Plokhy has won the Baillie Gifford Prize for Non-Fiction for Chernobyl: History of a Tragedy.
Robin Robertson won the Goldsmiths Prize for his Booker-shortlisted novel in verse The Long Take.