Barnes & Noble has promoted Mary Amicucci to chief merchandising officer, continuing to report to coo Jaime Carey. In her new role, Amicucci will oversee the planning of all merchandising initiatives and will also be responsible for managing and developing talent across all of the merchandising groups within Barnes & Noble. Carey said in the announcement: “Mary has a proven track record of success and leadership of our physical book business, making her the perfect choice for this position. She has already made an outstanding contribution to our merchandising efforts and we’re excited to see what she will achieve in this new role.”
Founder of fast-growing Blurb.com Eileen Gittins will step up to executive chairman, as former Time Inc. president of news and sports Todd Larsen joins the company as ceo. “It’s an opportunity to run a legacy business with a strong digital presence, an intersection where I’ve long worked,” Larsen says. Gittins “expects to focus on bringing new business to Blurb,” the WSJ reports.
Eric Shoup has joined Scribd as chief operating officer. Previously he was chief product officer at Ancestry.com. Shoup said in the announcement: “I am thrilled to be joining Scribd as COO. I believe Scribd has the right ingredients to be a global brand at scale. I am looking forward to working with the team to create an innovative service for reading akin to what Netflix and Spotify have done for video and music.”
Megan Reid is joining Sanford J. Greenburger Associates as senior scout for adult fiction and nonfiction. Previously she was associate editor at Emily Bestler Books.
At Random House Children’s Books, Stephanie Bay has been promoted to copy editor, while Madelin Stone joins as associate copy editor. Previously she was a copy editor/marketing assistant at Rosen Publishing.
Barbara Berson has joined The Helen Heller Agency as an agent. Berson was most recently senior editor at Penguin Canada and has spent the past five years as a freelance editorial consultant.
At St. Martin’s Heroesandheartbreakers.com, Heather Waters has been promoted to editorial director, and Jennifer Proffitt moves up to community manager.
Book Business magazine and Publishing Executive, both from Napco Media, will “discontinue the regular publication of the print magazines,” announced on their websites. They will focus on their digital products and events business.
The finalists for the The Story Prize are:
There’s Something I Want You to Do by Charles Baxter (Pantheon)
Fortune Smiles by Adam Johnson (Random House)
Thirteen Ways of Looking by Colum McCann (Random House)