At Simon & Schuster Audio, Tiffany Frarey has been promoted to senior associate producer; Gaby Audet to marketing coordinator; and Desiree Vecchio to senior editor.
Tamar McCollom has been promoted to assistant editor at Scribner.
At Waterbrook Multnomah, Laura Barker has been promoted to vice president and publisher. Andrew Stoddard becomes editorial director. Kristopher Orr is moving to the newly created position of designer for Christian books, starting January 1. He will be working within the Random House Creative Services department, based in New York, reporting to senior director Annette Melvin. Ericka Weed has been promoted to ad operations coordinator.
Forthcoming
Random House will publish THE IMPEACHMENT REPORT: The House Intelligence Committee’s Report on its Investigation into Donald Trump and Ukraine, with a foreword by Jon Meacham on December 17. The ebook will be available on December 13 and the audiobook on December 10.
Audio
Netgalley has added audio excerpts, giving publishers the option to upload audio clips for “any books listed on the site, regardless of publication date.” Members can browse excerpts online and stream them through an on-site player. They plan to introduce full audiobook files by summer 2020.
Bookselling
Barnes & Noble in Seattle’s Pacific Place mall will close on January 18. The Pacific Place mall has reportedly been experiencing “closures, empty storefronts, and a massive remodel that has left the space virtually gutted for months.”
PRH UK Rights Reshuffle
A month after PRH UK announced it would centralize its rights team into one group, reporting to group rights director Chantal Noel, it appears that the plan is complete. Alex Elam, head of rights at Penguin for 14 years, is also leaving the company, amidst a raft of promotions and two additions to the team, all effective in January. Additionally, the house will be looking to recruit more “in the near future,” reports The Bookseller.
Sarah Scarlett is promoted from Penguin adult international rights director to PRH rights director (adult) in an overarching group role for the PRH adult trade divisions. She will report to Noel.
Jane Kirby, Vintage rights director, is promoted to the new role of rights director for Transworld, Vintage and Michael Joseph, reporting to Scarlett. Also for these three divisions, Lucy Beresford Knox, formerly Penguin senior rights manager, is promoted to the new role of head of translation, and Josh Crosley from the Transworld team is now the senior rights manager.
Meanwhile Amelia Evans, Cornerstone rights director, is promoted to the new role of rights director for General, Press, Ebury and Cornerstone, reporting to Sarah Scarlett. She is joined by Monique Corless who is promoted from Vintage senior rights manager to head of translation for these divisions with Ann Katrin Ziser from the Transworld team assuming the expanded role of senior rights manager.
Additionally Catherine Wood is promoted from senior rights manager for Penguin to rights director for Penguin Random House Illustrated Books.
The children’s rights team remains unchanged following a restructure last year and continues to be led by Penguin Random House UK Children’s rights director Zosia Knopp, reporting to Noel.
“The new centralised team will create a larger, more experienced Penguin Random House Rights team with colleagues embedded within each division to ensure strong partnerships with editors and the divisional publishing teams,” the publisher told The Bookseller, with an overall goal of growth and increased entrepreneurialism.
Initiatives
Literary and cultural organization Kepler’s Literary Foundation is launching a three year fund drive for “to support its speaker series, youth events, discussion groups and literary seminars.” Executive director Jean Forstner said, “The support of early donors to this current campaign validates our mission of delivering community-based literary and cultural programs for audiences of all ages and backgrounds. We are delighted to see strong community support for our programs and welcome new donors to help meet our fundraising goals.”