A recently unsealed federal criminal complaint revealed that longtime Donadio & Olson accountant Darin Webb was charged earlier this month with embezzling $3.4 million from the literary agency between January 2011 and March 2018. According to the 5-page complaint, Webb, who was employed by Donadio & Olson as their bookkeeper since 2001, “used his position as the Agency’s bookkeeper to transfer more than $3.4 million of funds, belonging to the Agency and the Agency’s clients, from the Agency’s bank accounts to bank accounts that [he] controlled. In order to evade detection of his criminal conduct and carry out his scheme, […]
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Victoria Wells Arms is joining Hannigan Salky Getzler Agency as of May 1, bringing her clients over from Wells Arms Literary. Ken Brooks, Bill Kasdorf, Thad McIlroy, Bill Rosenblatt and Bill Trippe are coming together in a powerhouse alignment of “independent consultants with complementary expertise,” forming Publishing Technology Partners. They are calling it a “one-stop destination for addressing your publishing technology challenges and opportunities at a strategic level and implementing practical, effective solutions tailored to fit your needs.” Their announcement notes: “We recognized that no one of us could solve all of the technology problems of every publisher. But together we’re convinced that we’ve […]
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Liz Parker has joined Los Angeles-based talent agency Verve, to lead the launch of a new publishing division there. Parker will represent authors as well as “helping source intellectual property for clients looking to develop.” The company said in a statement, “When she told us that her guiding principle is to ‘make unheard voices heard,’ we knew we had found someone who shares both our personal and our professional values. Liz’s addition will allow us to represent new kinds of people and stories and gives us yet another means to bring those stories out into the world.” Parker has been […]
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David Kopp, vp, executive editor of Convergent Books, will retire on May 1. Kopp began his book publishing career in 1994 at Multnomah Publishers, moving with it to Random House in 2006, and helped to launch Convergent in 2014. Gary Jansen has been promoted to executive editor at Convergent Books, and will continue to act as director of Image. Hanna Lee has been promoted to senior manager, digital marketing at Random House Children’s. At Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, Lori Glazer has been promoted to svp, executive director of publicity. Gabbie Piraino has been named foreign rights manager at DeFiore and Company. Carina Mathern will join Harper Germany […]
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Sourcebooks has appointed Moxie & Company as their brand licensing agency. More changes to UK-based website Pottermore have resulted in some layoffs. BuzzFeed had suggested there were “significant” reductions, citing only a “well-placed source.” A company spokesperson told the site, “As a result of a reorganization at Pottermore, there have been a small number of job losses. These reflect the evolution of the business and are being handled as sensitively as possible.” Pottermore tells the Bookseller the job cuts are related to an “exciting new strategy” they will unveil soon. According to their annual filings with Companies House, the workforce […]
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Tina Pohlman has joined Union Literary as agent. Previously, she was evp and publisher at Open Road. Chris Clemans has joined Janklow & Nesbit as an agent. Previously he was an agent at The Clegg Agency. Hilary Teeman has been promoted to executive editor, Crown and Hogarth. Sarah Janet has been promoted to executive director, marketing analytics at Open Road. Anne Twomey will join Celadon Books as creative director on April 2. She has been vp, creative director at Grand Central. Six American writers were nominated for the Sunday Times Short Story Award in the UK.