Children’s book literary agent and packager Danielle Smith, founder of Lupine Grove Creative, has reportedly been accused of fraudulent deals with her clients and she has closed her agency. In a post to a private Facebook group (also then shared on Twitter) author Heidi Heilig wrote that “it was discovered a couple of days ago that [Smith] forged offer letters to her clients (and counselled her clients not to take them) (i do not know what the end goal was).” Helig says that Smith “has resigned as an agent, and in addition she was fired from Walden Pond Press where she […]
Agency News
People: Smith Exits Bonnier Zaffre; Transatlantic Agency Expands into US
Mark Smith is stepping down as ceo of Bonnier Zaffre at the end of July and has sold his equity stake. Smith has been with the company since 2014. While Bonnier looks for a successor, executive director of adult publishing Kate Parkin, executive director of children’s publishing Jane Harris, and executive director of sales and marketing James Horobin will fill in, reporting to Bonnier Publishing UK ceo Perminder Mann. Smith said, “The last three and a half years at Bonnier Zaffre, working with the brilliant team in Marylebone to build a commercial fiction company that covers both children’s and adult, has been […]
People, Etc.
Taneli Ruda has joined Wiley as evp, chief strategy officer, where he will help to define and accelerate the next phase of the company’s growth. Ruda most recently served as head of corporate strategy at Thomson Reuters, with responsibility for defining the company’s portfolio and growth strategies, and driving company-wide M&A. “Taneli is an exceptional talent, and I am excited to welcome him to Wiley,” Wiley president & ceo Brian Napack said in the announcement. “He has extensive experience identifying robust and sustainable growth strategies for global organizations. Taneli’s innovative thinking and ability to translate complex strategies into action will […]
People, Etc.
After six years of building the Quercus US list, publisher Nathaniel Marunas will leave at the end of June. He says, “The process of building Quercus from scratch has been hugely rewarding, but also utterly consuming. Having poured myself into launching the business and helping it grow, it is time to take a brief sabbatical, focus on several projects close to my heart, and consider what other publishing adventures the future might hold.” Any inquiries should be directed to Quercus marketing manager Elyse Gregov at Hachette Book Group USA. Lauren Scovel has been promoted to junior agent at Laura Gross […]
People, Etc.
At Wendy Sherman Associates, Kelli Martin has joined as an agent representing romance, women’s commercial fiction and book club fiction. She was previously a founding editor of Montlake Romance at Amazon Publishing and an executive editor at Lake Union. Nicki Richesin has joined as an agent representing upmarket and literary fiction, young adult fiction, and memoir. She previously worked as a freelance editor and at Bloomsbury in London. In a letter to booksellers about Book Expo, ABA board president Robert Sindelar addressed how indie bookstores can better take advantage of pre-orders. He said, “publishers and authors are positioning their books earlier and earlier […]
People, Etc.
Dan Vidra has joined HarperCollins as associate director on the international sales team, managing US division sales in the open market. He replaces Alison Smith, who took over closed market sales. Vidra had a long career in international book sales, and worked for txtr and its various successor companies for the past six years. Julia Kardon has joined Hannigan Salky Getzler Agency as an agent, where she will focus on literary fiction and narrative nonfiction. She was previously an agent at Mary Evans. William LoTurco has launched LoTurco Literary, a literary agency focused on nonfiction. He was previously an agent at Aevitas Creative […]