The ABA convened yet another vibrant and successful Winter Institute, which featured ever-expanded programming and attendance, all substantially underwritten by supporting publishers, as was acknowledged at Thursday afternoon’s Town Hall meeting. If you were listening carefully, however, there is really one issue that matters the most to independent booksellers: Turning this “higher calling” into a truly viable, profitable profession. You heard it in incoming ABA ceo Allison Hill’s brief remarks at the beginning of WI: “Running our businesses is increasingly a challenge, and I believe this moment in time is a critical one for our industry…. The measure of our […]
Bookstores
People, Etc.
At Berkley, Jen Monroe and Kristine Swartz have each been promoted to senior editor. Tiffany Shelton has been promoted to associate editor at St. Martin’s/Wednesday Books. At Chronicle Books, Lydia Ortiz has been promoted to senior designer, children’s; Beth Steiner to production director, purchasing & vendor management; and Erin Thacker to production director, creative development. OR Books co-founder John Oakes will step down as co-publisher on May 1. He will remain on the board and continue to edit current projects. Jacob Bronstein left Apple after almost 9 years at the company, most recently as senior marketing manager for Apple Podcasts, […]
People, Etc.
Rachel Fershleiser will join Counterpoint Press/Catapult/Soft Skull in early February as associate publisher, executive marketing director. She was senior director of marketing at Knopf. Also in February, Alyson Forbes will join the company as associate publisher, head of sales. She was vp, executive director of marketing strategy at Hachette Book Group. Emma Brodie will join Little, Brown’s Voracious on January 29 as executive editor, reporting to Michael Szczerban. She was previously senior editor for the Morrow Gift line at William Morrow. At Sourcebooks, Meg Gibbons has been promoted to senior editor, Simple Truths. At Doubleday, Nora Grubb and Cara Reilly have […]
People, Etc.
Lisa Donovan, vice president and executive managing editor at Simon & Schuster Children’s will retire on March 20, after 20 years with the company. Jon Anderson, president and publishers of S&S Children’s said in the announcement, “It is no exaggeration to say that for twenty years, Lisa has been the nexus of the entire Children’s Publishing Division. Her flawless supervision of a massively talented staff of managing editors, production editors, copyeditors and proofreaders has shepherded from manuscript to finished book at least 15,000 titles in every one of our huge variety of publishing formats.” At Harper Children’s, Audrey Steuerwald has […]
Bookselling: Bankrupt Book People Fires More People; Book Culture Landlord Supports A Bookstore — with A Different Operator
Insolvent UK retailer The Book People has been unable to find a buyer for the business, and another 82 people at their main warehouse were fired last Friday as a result. Since going to bankruptcy administration, the company has let go over 150 people from a staff of just under 400 — meaning more jobs remain on the line as PricewaterhouseCoopers winds down operations. Separately, the landlord for the seized Book Culture space on Columbus Avenue in NYC tells the Gothamist, “Our intention is to keep that space as a bookstore and we’re working hard to do that. It just […]
People, Etc.
Nancy Brennan will join Candlewick as executive art director, starting January 16. She has worked at Viking Children’s for 18 years. Katherine Wessbecher has joined the Bradford Literary Agency as literary agent. Previously, she was associate editor at Putnam Children’s. At Severn House, owned by Canongate, publisher Kate Lyall Grant has joined the company’s board. Ten Speed Press executive editor Lisa Westmoreland has “embarked on a new adventure” and is no longer at the company. Jason Reynolds will succeed Jacqueline Woodson as National Ambassador for Young People’s Literature for the next two years, announced jointly by The Library of Congress, […]