Random House’s legal department has promoted Kathy Trager to evp, general counsel, while Matthew Martin and Anke Steinecke have been named svp, associate general counsel, respectively. Former London Book Fair Director Alistair Burtenshaw has launched his own publishing industry consultancy and project management business, Publishing Connections Ltd. Melissa Sarver has joined Folio Literary Management as the co-director of international rights and will continue to represent authors in the areas of Young Adult, select literary and upmarket adult fiction, narrative non-fiction, business books and cookbooks. She was previously at The Elizabeth Kaplan Literary Agency. At Little, Brown, Heather Fain has been promoted to […]
Distribution
People, Etc.
Allan Adler has been promoted to general counsel and vp, government affairs at the Association of American Publishers. Peter Berkery, Jr. will serve as executive director of the Association of American University Presses, starting March 1, 2013. He has been vp and publisher for Oxford University Press’s US Law Division for the past four years. Longtime Crown editor and executive Charlie Conrad was laid off earlier this week, after 22 years at the company (first Bantam Doubleday Dell and then Random House Inc.). Spokesperson David Drake tells us “the change did not involve a broader reassignment of responsibilities or roles within […]
People, Awards, Etc.
At Abrams, publisher Steve Tager takes on the new role of chief marketing and business development officer, focused on driving new business initiatives, including exploiting company’s digital assets. The marketing and publicity departments will also report to him. Deborah Aaronson takes over as vp, publisher for the adult trade group. She has been with the company since 2000. Elisa Urbanelli returns to the company as associate publisher for the adult group, also acquiring in categories including art and museum publications. She was previously a managing editor for the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco and most recently was a freelance […]
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Abby Ranger has joined the early childhood group at Harper Children’s as senior editor. Previously she was an editor at Disney-Hyperion. In addition, Jocelyn Davies returns to the division as editor from Razorbill, where she held the same position. Donna Condon will move to Harlequin UK in January as editorial director, UK, responsible for Mills & Boon, Mira and Mira Ink. She has been senior commissioning editor at Piatkus Books. PGW will distribute Bilingual Books, which produces language learning product titles, as of January 1, 2013. 1973 National Book Award nominee for Apostles of Light, Ellen Douglas, 91, died Wednesday after […]
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Harmony Books, which has been all but dormant on the acquisitions front for over two years, since the launch of Crown Archetype, is now the focus of what spokesperson David Drake calls “an effort to revitalize the Harmony brand.” The imprint has been given dedicated editorial staff again and aims to expand its list starting in spring 2013 to include health, diet, relationships, and self-improvement titles with a mission of “guiding readers to become their best selves, both inside and out.” Former Crown executive editor Heather Jackson is re-joining the company as consulting editor-at-large for Harmony, responsible for identifying emerging […]
People, Etc.
Due to the effects of Hurricane Sandy, The Random House Publishing Group’s Open House, originally scheduled for this Friday, November 2, will now take place on Friday, December 14. Guests who purchased a ticket for the original date and cannot attend on December 14 can receive a refund by emailing pr@randomhouse.com. With continued internet connectivity issues related to the hurricane, ABA regrets that we will not be able to produce a National Indie Bestseller List or any of the Regional Indie Bestseller Lists this week. At Palgrave Macmillan, Dominic Knight has been named chairman and will also be executive director, […]