Pieter Swinkels has been promoted to chief content officer at Rakuten Kobo. Additionally, Alan MacNevin has been promoted to chief operating officer; Marianne Hamilton to chief marketing officer; and Dave Anderson to chief strategy officer. At Macmillan Children’s, Carol Ly has been promoted to senior designer and Sophie Erb to associate designer. Emily Settle has been promoted to associate editor at Feiwel and Friends and Swoon Reads. Picks The Wife by Meg Wolitzer is the February pick for the PBS NewsHour-New York Times book club. The Costco Pennie’s Pick for February is The Bookshop by Penelope Fitzgerald. Awards Biography The Cut Out Girl by Bart […]
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Veronica Park has joined Fuse Literary as an associate agent. She was previously literary agent and marketing specialist at Corvisiero Literary Agency. Alexandra Franklin has been promoted to associate agent at the Vicky Bijur Literary Agency. Maya Baran has joined Viking Penguin as publicity manager, returning to publishing full-time. Most recently she has assisted Broadside PR and The Countryman Press. The ALA has named Melinda Gates the honorary chair of National Library Week, starting April 7. At Porter Square Books in Cambridge, MA, Leila Meglio has joined as events manager. Most recently, she was publicity associate at Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. Sarah Rettger becomes […]
ABA Town Hall: Stock Shortages, Minimum Wage, and More
On the final day of Winter Institute, ABA ceo Oren Teacher announced that next year’s event will take place in Baltimore on January 21-24, 2020. On Thursday morning, the ABA Town Hall began with an update from the diversity task force, which will become a permanent committee going forward. The group is working on a range of projects, including developing a mentorship program, creating a glossary of diversity and inclusion terms for booksellers, working with Edelweiss to add filters pertaining to diversity, and more. Afterward, the floor was was opened to booksellers, who raised a range of concerns. Sarah Pishko of […]
Realistic Expectations at Winter Institute
ABA ceo Oren Teicher spoke to international attendees at a lunchtime session on The State of the U.S. Book Industry, as part of Wednesday’s opening day of Winter Institute (Wi14) in Albuquerque, NM. He struck a cautious note that echoed throughout the day, noting that indie booksellers had “a pretty consistent year,” with a 4.9 percent increase in sales, but didn’t see any particular bumps from this year’s blockbusters. He said, “Things are reasonably healthy. We are always cautious…. There’s good news for sure, but it’s also pretty fragile.” Teicher remarked on seeing younger faces among the more than 700 […]
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Macmillan Children’s announced a number of promotions: Holly West and Kat Brzozowski have each been promoted to senior editor at Feiwel and Friends/Swoon Reads; Anna Roberto to senior editor at Feiwel and Friends; Julia Sooy to editor at Henry Holt BYR/Godwin Books; Melissa Warten to assistant editor at Farrar, Strauss Children’s; Jessica Anderson to associate editor at Henry Holt BYR/Christy Ottaviano Books; Robyn Chapman to senior associate editor at First Second Books; and Mark Podesta to assistant editor at Henry Holt Children’s. At Random House Children’s, Janet Foley has been promoted to director of managing editorial; Kristen Depken to editor; and Rachel Chlebowski to assistant editor. Megan […]
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Harper Children’s UK publisher Rachel Denwood will move to Simon & Schuster UK, where she will be managing director for the children’s publishing division, reporting to ceo Ian Chapman. Denwood will also join the publisher’s UK board. Chapman says, “Rachel is highly talented with a wealth of experience and great energy and passion for children’s books. She is the perfect publisher to take the helm of this vital and growing area of our business.” Denwood adds, “After ten happy and successful years at HarperCollins it is hard to say goodbye, but the opportunity to lead and build the gem-filled Simon […]