Don Jacobson will join Harper Christian and Harper Collins Focus on October 7 as svp and group publisher, reporting to Mark Schoenwald, president and CEO, Harper Christian. Previously, Jacobson bought Multnomah Press, before selling it to Penguin Random House, and founded literary management agency D.C. Jacobson and Associates.
Karyn Marcus has been promoted to executive editor at the Gallery Books Group.
Haley Swanson has been promoted to associate editor at Harper Wave.
Angeline Rodriguez will join Orbit as associate editor. She was most recently with Ballantine.
Alicia Tan has joined Harper as assistant editor. She was previously editorial assistant at Abrams.
Roz Foster has joined the Frances Goldin Literary Agency as agent. Previously, she spent over six years as a literary agent with the Sandra Dijkstra Literary Agency.
Jennifer Murphy joins Quirk Books as marketing manager and publicist. She was previously at Magination Press and Harper Collins.
Rachel Kaplan has been promoted to associate publicist at Ecco.
International
CEO of Germany’s Luebbe Carel Halff, 68, will resign at the end of December 2020 when his contract expires, “at his own request.”
Olga Adeva Escribano has joined Harper Iberica in the new position of nonfiction editorial director, reporting to Luis Maria Pugni. Adeva previously spent 20 years at Planeta, most recently as executive editor in the nonfiction department at Espasa.
Naja Baldwin has been promoted to associate director at Maria B Campbell UK Associates.
Awards
Canada’s Giller Prize named its 2019 shortlist, with the winners to be announced on November 18:
Immigrant City, by David Bezmozgis
Small Game Hunting at the Local Coward Gun Club, by Megan Gail Coles
The Innocents, by Michael Crummey
Dual Citizens, by Alix Ohlin
Lampedusa, by Steven Price
Reproduction, by Ian Williams
Bookselling
The Book Rack bookstore in Newburyport, MA closed over the weekend after 47 years in business. Owner John Hugo said in a press release, “People read less in today’s fast paced social media and Netflix world and those that do read have taken their purchases largely to Amazon for its cost and convenience.”
Initiatives
Harper UK is trying out “hundreds” of backlist titles in Kindle Unlimited, the Bookseller reports, in part to try awareness for new titles. A spokesperson said: “We are testing participation with Kindle Unlimited in the UK with a limited number of our e-books to understand how readers use the service and to ensure we are exploring all possible avenues for our authors. We believe there is opportunity to drive sales through Kindle Unlimited and a la carte sales by allowing readers as much choice as possible in how they access content.”
The NetGalley Advance service is being expanded to the UK, Germany and France.