Anne Messitte, executive vice president, Knopf Doubleday and publisher, Vintage/Anchor, will leave the company in December, with no indication of what is next for her, “forced out amid a company restructuring” as the AP puts it. Knopf says the change is about bringing “alignment between our group hardcover and paperback publishing programs, as well as more group efficiencies,” after Vintage/Anchor had “essentially been operating as an autonomous arm of our publishing group.”
Messitte has led Vintage/Anchor for 20 years, and launched Vintage Español in 1994, among other ventures — notably including her acquisition of the Fifty Shades trilogy. Chairman and editor-in-chief Sonny Mehta said in the release, “For the past two decades, Anne has led the Vintage and Anchor Books imprints, invigorating all aspects of our paperback program. As publisher, she has guided the editorial, marketing and publicity teams and worked closely with the authors whose books have shaped one of the industry’s leading paperback programs.”
Suzanne Herz, executive vice president, executive director of publishing, Doubleday, will expand her role to succeed Messitte as publisher of Vintage/Anchor, and will “now have dual roles within our publishing group.” Mehta said, “Suzanne shares my view that success in paperback publishing is achieved both by working in concert with teams on the hardcover side and by developing adjacent strategies for the paperback milieu.” He adds, “Suzanne brings a wealth of knowledge, experience, and success to her new role. She recognizes that ours is a talent-driven business, as her work with authors, agents, and publishing peers will attest.” Additionally, Todd Doughty has been promoted to senior vice president, deputy publisher of Doubleday, reporting to Herz. And director of Spanish language publishing Cristobal Pera will now report to Mehta.