At Macmillan Children’s, Morgan Kane has been promoted to assistant director, publicity; Justin Krasner to senior editor of Odd Dot; Rachel Murray to associate editor at Holt Children’s; and Jessica Chung to junior designer. Daniel Ehrenhaft is leaving Soho Teen to devote more time to the nonprofit WAAC and to explore new opportunities in service of young adult literature. Alexa Wejko has been promoted to editor at Soho Teen, in addition to her role as publicist. Bill Shannon, 57, longtime director of contracts at the Knopf Doubleday Group, died on May 9, from complications of kidney cancer. He joined Knopf in 2000. […]
Archives for May 2020
Remembering Carolyn Reidy
Following Simon & Schuster’s official announcement of Carolyn Reidy’s passing, ViacomCBS ceo Bob Bakish — to whom Reidy reported — said in a note, “Carolyn was a passionate and beloved leader, who helped make Simon & Schuster what it is today: one of the most successful and respected consumer publishing houses in the business. Over the course of almost 30 years at the company – and 12 as CEO – Carolyn nurtured relationships with important and popular writers, oversaw the publishing of numerous culture-shaping bestsellers and broadened Simon & Schuster’s audience by pushing into new formats and international markets. And, […]
Simon & Schuster CEO Carolyn Reidy Dies of A Heart Attack
Carolyn Reidy, ceo of Simon & Schuster since 2008, died Tuesday morning after suffering a heart attack. She turned 71 earlier this month. The news was announced by S&S evp, operations and cfo Dennis Eulau. He writes: “Carolyn was both an exemplary leader and a supremely talented and visionary publishing executive…. As a publisher and a leader, Carolyn pushed us to stretch to do just that little bit more; to do our best and then some for our authors, in whose service she came to work each day with an unbridled and infectious enthusiasm and great humor. Her fierce intelligence […]
People, Etc.
Pilar Garcia-Brown has been promoted to editor at Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. Rachel Neely will joining Trapeze as a commissioning editor. She has been at Quercus. The Association of American Publishers (AAP)’s Award for Distinguished Public Service is being given to Professor Jeffrey Rosen, for his “principled dedication to both the creative process and the democratic exchange of idea. Rosen is an author, president and ceo of the National Constitution Center, and a law professor at the George Washington University. The AAP will hold a virtual annual meeting in June, and Rosen will address the group then in accepting the award.
Walker/Candlewick Sold to Trustbridge Partners
Walker Books Group, whose divisions include Candlewick Press in the US, has been sold to China-based Trustbridge Global Media (a unit of private equity firm Trustbridge Partners). Walker had been the largest employee- and creator-owned publishing company. (The ownership had included more than 75 employees, and over 150 authors and illustrators.) In recent years, Trustbridge acquired Peachtree Publishers in Atlanta (2018) and Holiday House (2016), and they partnered with Chronicle Books for the Chronicle Bridge imprint in China (and France’s Bayard for a Bayard Bridge imprint). The deal closed on or about May 7 according to a UK Companies House […]
Storytel Subscriber List Grows as Lockdowns Encourage Streaming
Swedish ebook and audio streaming platform Storytel reported results for the first quarter of 2020, with net sales of SEK 513.2 million ($52.7 million), up 33.5 percent from SEK 385 million. (Announced this quarter, total sales accounting will now include the capitalization of developing its digital catalog, which was formerly reported as an expense and totaled SEK 46.8 million, not reflected above.) The EBITDA loss of SEK (31.1 million) was an improvement from SEK (67.9 million). To continue fueling its growth, the company completed a directed share issue February 20 that raised SEK 948 million before fees “and provided the […]