Workman Publishing director of international publishing Kristina Peterson is retiring on March 31 after 15 years with the company. Workman ceo Daniel Reynolds said, “over the years, international sales have become increasingly important to the health of our industry, and Kristina has done a terrific job at the helm of this crucial department, consistently growing our business each year.” Sara High has been promoted to director of international sales. Kendra Poster becomes rights director.
Margaret Southard has joined Simon & Schuster as an assistant director of publicity, and Brianna Scharfenberg has joined as a senior publicist.
On the Simon & Schuster indie sales team, Megan Manning is promoted to telesales account manager covering the Pacific Northwest, succeeding Daniela Plunkett.
At Scribner, Mia O’Neill has been promoted to publicist. Clare Maurer will join as a publicist on February 18. She was previously associate publicist at St. Martin’s.
Nathan Halter will serve as US customer service representative for Batch for Books as the initiative rolls out here. He was previously at the American Booksellers Association and Doylestown Bookshop.
Margaret Bail has retired from her role as agent at Fuse Literary to focus on her writing career.
In the UK, Katya Shipster has been promoted to publishing director of Harper Nonfiction.
Forthcoming
Jeff Kinney‘s next book ROWLEY JEFFERSON’S AWESOME FRIENDLY ADVENTURE will be published on April 7 by Amulet. The book is a spinoff of the Diary of a Wimpy Kid series, narrated by Greg Heffley’s best friend Rowley. Kinney’s tour for the book will not be announced in advance, with Kinney instead dropping in at schools and bookstores to surprise readers.
Legal
Without any news yet from the January 27 settlement conference before Magistrate Judge Gabriel Gorenstein, the parties in Parneros v. Barnes & Noble continue to litigate according to schedule. On February 12, BN filed its reply memo in support of its motion for partial summary judgement on the plaintiff’s defamation and breach of covenant of good faith and fair dealing claims.
The reply effectively repeats BN’s original position: There was nothing in the press release that was false, therefore it was not defamatory. Regarding fair dealing, BN argues that Parneros had no claim to future equity awards even if terminated without cause. As for Parneros’ claim in his last response that he would be owed equity worth $500,000 from a previously granted tranche if he was found to be terminated without cause, BN says those damages belong in his breach of contract claim, which is not part of the motion.