Marian Wood, vice president and publisher of Marian Wood Books, will retire at the end of the year. She has been with Putnam since 1999. Ivan Held president of Putnam, Berkley, and Dutton wrote in a memo to staff, “While her list of writers is a tribute to her acumen as an editor, each of her books has received the skill and passion a good book deserves. As she has been known to say, ‘There is no reason to publish a book you don’t love. If you take that path, you do damage to the house, to the writer, and to your own sense of yourself.'”
Jonathan Lee has been promoted to editor-in-chief at Catapult, starting January 1. Pat Strachan moves to vice president, executive editor.
Cassie Malmo (formerly Cassie McGinty) has joined Simon & Schuster Childrens as publicity manager. (She was at Disney Publishing.)
Greg Voynow has joined Scribd as head of audio and content partnerships. Most recently he oversaw business development at New York Public Radio, after nearly a decade at Audible. Scribd vp, content acquisition and strategy Andrew Weinstein notes, “The number of people who listen to audio on Scribd has more than doubled this year.” Additionally, Stacey Nathan has joined the company as a content acquisition associate.
The American Psychological Association’s APA Books and Magination Press has a new sales team: Kerry Cahill joins as sales director, reporting to head of sales George Kowal. She was most recently sales director at Johns Hopkins University Press. Emma All joins as sales specialist, reporting to Cahill. She was in the publicity department at Johns Hopkins University Press.
Long-time Bay Area literary events producer Barbara Lane joined Copperfield’s Books as director of events.
Year-End Letters
Carolyn Reidy wrote to thank staff and celebrate “the most successful year in Simon & Schuster history.” On top of their many commercial successes, she notes that WHOSE BOAT IS THIS BOAT? by the staff of The Late Show with Stephen Colbert has already raised more than $1 million for hurricane relief.
Beyond their new releases, “Backlist sales continued to grow, and they comprise a higher portion of our revenue than at any time in memory…. Our concerted effort during the last few years to acquire books with the potential for long-term backlist sales has yielded dividends.” And the opening next month of their new warehouse facility in Milan, TN marks “a new and exciting phase in this area of our business…. Distribution is and will remain an important driver of our overall business, and with our new facility on board we are positioned to establish Simon & Schuster as a clear leader in this field.”
Bookselling
Bay Books in Coronado, CA has lost its lease and is looking for a new space. The store has been in its current location for 27 years, but can no longer afford the rent. They wrote in a letter to the community, “While we remain uncertain about our future, we ask residents to please come and visit us, be supportive of our store and if possible bring the issue to the city, maybe if we all work together we can find a new home.”
Best Of-ish
New York Public Library listed its most checked out books of the year, with Jennifer Egan’s Manhattan Beach taking the no. 1 spot. The rest of the top five includes: Origin by Dan Brown; The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood; Sing, Unburied, Sing by Jesmyn Ward; and Fire and Fury by Michael Wolff.
Legislative
The Senate Rules and Administration Committee has indefinitely postponed voting on the Register of Copyrights Selection and Accountability Act, making it unlikely that the proposal will go to a floor vote before the 115th Congress adjourns. (That would mean supporters would have to start fresh with new legislation next year, where a Democratic House of Representatives might look differently on the whole prospect.) The legislation would make the register of copyrights a presidential appointee and set a 10-year term limit for the position. Currently, the register is currently selected by the Librarian of Congress and has no term limit.
The bill was opposed by the ALA, the Society of American Archivists, and others. Critics noted, among other things, that the bill was being pushed through late in the session, that if favored commercial interests, and that it would represent a decrease of power for the Librarian of Congress.
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