Christopher Richards will join Penguin Press on January 11 as associate editor. Previously he was an associate editor at FSG. At Penguin Random House, Andrew Rein is promoted to sales director, mass merchandise national accounts. Bloomsbury has agreed to acquire some family law publishing properties from Nexis Lexis and Jordan Publishing that are being spun off as a condition for regulatory approval of RELX (Reed Elsevier)’s purchase of Jordan. Bloomsbury is paying £1.4m minus deferred income. At the same time, Bloomsbury says trading conditions have been “good…in broad terms” but sales for the year remain dependent on final holiday results. We will […]
Briefs: Foer’s Next Novel, Now From FSG; and More
Jonathan Safran Foer‘s first novel in 11 years, HERE I AM, will be published by Farrar, Straus & Giroux in September (Hamish Hamilton will publish the UK edition on September 29.) The NYT reports the novel, which FSG acquired as part of a three-book deal (which also includes another novel and a work of nonfiction), “unfolds over a single month in present-day Washington, as a Jewish family with three sons falls apart after the parents’ marriage falters. While the family implodes, relatives from Israel are visiting for the bar mitzvah of one of the sons. The drama unfolds as a […]
People, Etc.
At the Random House Publishing Group, Sanyu Dillon, Theresa Zoro, Susan Kamil, and Scott Shannon have all been promoted to executive vice president — comprising the executive leadership team, along with existing evps Bill Takes and Kara Welsh (whose announcement as publisher Ballantine Bantam Dell was noted Thursday) . RHPG president and publisher Gina Centrello said in the announcement: “Through our many organizational evolutions and publishing expansions, these exceptional people have helped me create an unparalleled publishing strategy for the division, while expertly managing their respective departments. Individually and collectively, they are the best of the best in the business, and I […]
2015: The Year in Lawsuits
For years now the future of publishing has been driven by litigation as much as innovation. While 2015 leaves a couple of key cases right near the edge of resolution — the biggest question is whether the Supreme Court will agree to hear Apple’s appeal of the ebook antitrust ruling (the odds of the Court taking any case are very low, though legal experts guess that if the justices take the case, they are likely to find for Apple) — we may be coming to the end of the “digital dispute decade,” at least in the US. But in time-warped Europe, market concentration […]
People, Etc.: Welsh to BBD As Publisher, and More
Kara Welsh will join Ballantine Bantam Dell as executive vice president, publisher on January 19, reporting to Gina Centrello. Previously Welsh was svp, publisher at the Berkley Publishing Group, after joining NAL as publisher in 2001. Reporting to Welsh are svp, associate publisher and editor-in-chief Jennifer Hershey, and svp, deputy publisher Kim Hovey. Centrello said in the announcement: “Kara and I both began our publishing careers at Pocket Books, where she rose to vice president, deputy publisher. I loved working with her. Each day, she demonstrated her can-do, solutions-centric publishing sensibility, her open, collaborative, calm work ethic, and her advocacy […]
People
Tara Parsons will join Touchstone as editor-in-chief on January 4, reporting to Susan Moldow. Previously she was editorial director, fiction at Amazon Publishing. Moldow said in the announcement: “Tara’s range of commercial acquisitions combined with the unique experiences she has gained from working within an array of publishing models will make her a valuable and dynamic leader of the Touchstone editorial team.” Sally Kim had been editorial director at Touchstone until leaving for Putnam earlier this year. It’s the first time Touchstone has used the title editor-in-chief for a number of years. Mark Tavani will join Putnam as vp, executive […]