• Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Login
  • Register
Publishers Lunch logo Publishers Lunch logo
  • Publishers Marketplace
  • Site Guide
  • Help
Login Sign Up
  • Personnel
  • AI
  • Compensation
  • Unions
  • Book Bans
  • New Releases
  • Earnings
  • The Trial
  • Archives
Publishers Lunch logo
  • Publishers Marketplace
  • Site Guide
  • Help
  • Publishers Marketplace
  • Site Guide
  • Help

April 30, 2020By Erin Somers

People, Etc.

April 30, 2020By Erin Somers

Sally Kim has been promoted to senior vice president, publisher, Putnam. Christine Ball becomes senior vice president, publisher, Berkley and Dutton. Ashley McClay and Alexis Welby at Putnam will now report to Kim.

At Simon & Schuster, Greg Andonian has been promoted to director, customer financial services reporting to Deepak Daswani, vice president and controller. Karyn Basso has been promoted to director, order management and customer service, reporting to Chris Wagner, vice president, operations and distribution services.

Joy Harjo was appointed to a second term as poet laureate, announced by the Library of Congress.

In the UK, Jocasta Hamilton will become publisher at John Murray, succeeding Mark Richards who is stepping down in May. Hamilton was previously publishing director at Hutchinson for nine years.

Forthcoming
Tana French‘s THE SEARCHER, a new standalone novel, will be published by Viking on October 6.

Relief
Literary Arts in Oregon has created the Booth Emergency Fund for Writers, to provide financial relief to Oregon writers, including cartoonists, spoken word poets and playwrights who are established artists in their genre. They will issue awards of $1,000 each will to 100 eligible writers in the first application period, and are “prioritizing funding for writers identifying as Black, Indigenous, and/or People of Color.”

Layoffs
As we previously reported in early April, though Macmillan never announced how many people they laid off, with “layoffs across the organization” it appears that approximately 25 to 35 jobs were eliminated. At least some of the people affected have indicated their last day at work is this Friday, May 1, so the full extent of the cuts may be clearer soon. On top of the 13 reductions at St. Martin’s, Holt and Farrar, Straus we accounted for earlier, Tor executive editor Diana Gill and editor Diana Pho announced 4 job cuts there, including those two along with YA editor Melissa Frain and Alison Bunis in marketing.

Distribution
Longleaf Services will provide fulfillment and publishing services for Purdue University Press starting July 1.

Sales News
NPD Bookscan reported print book sales for the week ending April 26, with total sales of 11.026 million units up 10.1 percent from the sluggish post-Easter week of  10.017 million units. (Total sales are about 433,000 units lower than the same sales week a year ago, which recorded 11.46 million units, a 3.8 percent decline.)

Adult sales gained meaningfully, at 6.258 million units, up from 5.294 million units a week ago and and the highest adult sales recorded in weeks. Even with the increase, that’s still well below “normal,” however; in the same week a year ago, adult sales registered 7.543 million units. There were meaningful gains in general fiction, romance, and suspense thrillers, as nonfiction saw good increases in biography/memoir, general nonfiction, health & fitness, reference, religion and self-help.

Juvenile book sales remained strong, at 4.387 million units, up only slightly compared to the previous week.

Filed Under: Crisis reference, Free, New Releases/Forthcoming, Personnel

sidebar

Primary Free Sidebar

Login

Forgot Password Quick Pass User Login
Get Full Access
The Publishing Industry’s Essential Daily Read

Each Publishers Lunch Deluxe subscription includes full access to our searchable multi-year archive of industry news, a nightly email reporting 10 to 50 deal transactions, and our database of industry contacts, scripts, and posting privileges.

Learn More

RSS Automat

  • Sally Kim Discusses Working at Each of the Big 5 July 10, 2025 Open Book Podcast
  • Authors Write An Open Letter to Publishers Against AI July 1, 2025 Lit Hub
  • Pearson and Google Partner on AI Tools June 27, 2025 Press Release
  • Author of "Life as We Knew It," Among 76 Books of "Complex Stories for Young Adults" Susan Beth Pfeffer Dies at 77 June 26, 2025 NYT
  • Why Man Not Read Fiction We Think Should? IDK -- Let's Ask A Tourist Bookstore June 26, 2025 NYT
  • Baseball Writer Scott Miller Dies at 62 June 24, 2025 NY Post
  • Accusations of Plagiarism, AI Use, and Bullying on BookTok June 23, 2025 NBC News
  • Larry Gagosian Visits His Store, BookHampton: "I just want the store to look more serious" June 23, 2025 Curbed
  • TikTok's 8th Note Press Is Shutting Down, Returning Rights to Authors June 21, 2025 NYT/Bookseller
  • Researchers Find That Newer Meta AI Models Have Memorized More of Popular Books Like Harry Potter June 20, 2025 Ars Technica
Publishers Marketplace logo

Contact Us

News

  • Publishers Marketplace
  • Report News
  • Discuss
  • Classifieds
  • Rights Offerings

Deals

  • Report A Deal

Books

  • Buzz Books

Jobs

  • Job Board
  • Privacy Policy Terms of Use