At Scholastic, Dani Nadel has been hired as chief digital marketing officer for Scholastic book clubs and e-commerce, reporting to Judy Newman. She was most recently president at digital agency Publicis Modem since 2008. In addition, Tom Burke has been promoted to chief e-commerce officer, book clubs and e-commerce. Christopher Davis will join Open Road as evp and chief operating officer, overseeing operations and financial matters, reporting to Jane Friedman, starting October 17. He was previously the svp of business operations for AOL/The Huffington Post Media Group. At Scribner, Katie Monaghan has been promoted to deputy director of publicity. Liz Hartman has […]
Authors
Julian Assange WikiLeaks Canongate
It will come as no great surprise that Julian Assange has released correspondence with Canongate and purported transcripts of apparently-taped phone calls with Canongate publisher Jamie Byng. Though Canongate published the unauthorized draft in part due to admitted “financial imperative,” according to an email from Assange’s agent Caroline Michel, by going ahead with publication, Canongate now is obligated to pay Assange, “in accordance with the agreement, the remaining amounts of £225,000 on delivery of the complete manuscript and £175,000 on first UK publication.” (That should provide enough to pay back Knopf and still leave some for Assange.) As we noted […]
People: Sevier Promoted to EIC at Dutton, Rinaldi Leaves Rodale, and More
Ben Sevier has been promoted to editor-in-chief at Dutton, effective Octboer 3. He has been there for almost five years. President and publisher Brian Tart says, “I know from both authors and agents how much of an advocate Ben is for his writers. He gets the best out of them, every time. He believes in the power of a good story and he finds innovative ways to reach the widest possible audience for each of his books. I can’t think of a better person to lead our editorial efforts than Ben Sevier.” Rodale evp and general manager of the books […]
Palin Accuses McGinniss of Defamation and “May” File Claim
Sarah Palin’s Anchorage attorney has written to Crown, saying that Joe McGinniss’s book THE ROGUE “defamed” the Palins and that both the publisher and author “clearly knew the statements were false [and] admitted they had no basis in fact or reality.” The letter advises “that a claim may be brought against you.” (Or national attention for the threat may turn out to suffice.) It also lays out an argument that would have to be made before a court that McGinniss somehow “waived the attorney client privilege” when he made a casual reference in an email to what the Random House […]
People, Etc.
Lauren Weber has been named agency assistant at Pippin Properties following her summer internship at the company. Amber Hoover has been promoted to associate director of international scouting at Franklin & Siegal Associates. She joined the company in 2005. Darren Turpin will join Angry Robot as marketing and digital manager on November 7. She is currently an online marketing manager for Little, Brown UK. Alexandra Wilder joins the Strand Book Store in New York as events director on October 3. Previously she was the managing director of the 92Y Unterberg Poetry Center. The winners of the 2011 Dayton Literary Peace […]
Assange Says Canongate Is “Profiteering” from “Unfinished Draft”
Julian Assange issued a lengthy statement via WikiLeaks last night, saying that Canongate’s publication Thursday of the early draft of his book over his objections is “old-fashioned opportunism and duplicity — screwing people over to make a buck.” He says the house is “profiteering from an unfinished and erroneous draft.” Assange says the manuscript that became the basis of publication–which Canongate has acknowledged was a first draft–is rather “a narrative and literary interpretation of a conversation between the writer [Andrew O’Hagan] and me.” Assange says it was never submitted to the house at all; instead, he says O’Hagan’s researcher provided […]