Andrea Barzvi recently left ICM Partners after 13 years to start her own agency, Empire literary, where she will continue to represent commercial non-fiction as well as women’s fiction. At Sourcebooks, Nicole Villeneuve has been promoted to assistant publicity manager. Poet Billy Collins, 72, has sold his papers to the Harry Ransom Center at the University of Texas at Austin, The finalists have been named for the Costa Short Story Award. In bookstore news, Main Street Books in St. Charles, MO — which was set to close on January 31 as the owners retire — is negotiating with a potential buyer. (A separate […]
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At Crown Archetype, Mary Choteborsky has been promoted to senior editor. At Touchstone, Lauren Spiegel has been promoted to senior editor. At Holt, Allison Adler has been promoted to associate editor and Leslie Brandon has moved up to publicity manager. Elsewhere at Macmillan, Kelsey Albertson has been promoted to sales coordinator, and Hannah Braaten is now assistant editor. At The Lisa Ekus Group, Sally Ekus has been promoted to agency manager. Penguin Random House chairman John Makinson speaks to The Times of India about the merged company. Asked, “What does that scale allow you to do?,” he answers: “It puts us […]
On to Winter Institute
After an exhilarating Digital Book World, the next big event on publishing’s calendar is the ABA’s Winter Institute 9, which begins next Tuesday in Seattle. Founded as an educational and networking event for enthusiastic independent booksellers, it has also grown into a major launch event for spring and summer books and authors. We are helping to amplify that launch effect throughout the trade and beyond to passionate readers with our free Buzz Books 2014: Spring/Summer ebook sampler, packed with substantial pre-publication excerpts from 40 books to watch from the season ahead. It includes 10 authors will be appearing at WI9: […]
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President of Baker & Taylor’s Library & Education division since 2000 George Coe has been promoted to ceo of the wholesaler. He takes over from Arnie Wright, who retired after 34 years with B&T. Wright will work as a consultant for the company, and will take the role of non-executive chairman of the board. Nicole Melander has joined Houghton Mifflin Harcourt as svp, digital strategy, reporting to ceo Linda Zecher. Melander was previously chief technology officer at Achieving the Dream, a national reform network dedicated to community college student success and completion. At HMH she will work closely with the […]
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In the Random House Special Markets Group, Christine Dillon has been promoted to senior sales director, premium and proprietary sales. Cathy Serpico moves up to imprint sales manager, and Lauren Helman has been promoted to sales manager, specialty retail. At Transatlantic Literary Agency, Stephanie Sinclair and Amy Tompkins have been promoted to associate agent. The Oscar nominations were announced Thursday morning. Among the book-based films in contention for top honors, Philomena, 12 Years A Slave and The Wolf of Wall Street were all nominated for best picture, and Dirty Wars is nominated for best documentary. Also announced Thursday morning were […]
People: Shinker to Depart Gotham/Avery, Tart To Oversee Imprints; Penguin and Random Children’s Merge In UK
President and publisher of Gotham/Avery Books Bill Shinker will step down on January 31 “to do consulting,” after what Penguin president Susan Petersen Kennedy calls a “storied four-decade publishing career [that] uniquely includes the founding of two lasting Penguin and Random House imprints: Gotham Books and Broadway Books.” Succeeding Shinker on February 3 is Brian Tart, who will also remain president and publisher of Dutton. Newly reporting to Tart are Gotham/Avery associate publisher Lisa Johnson; Gotham editorial director Lauren Marino; and Avery editorial director Megan Newman. Gotham/Avery intends to continue publishing approximately 25 hardcover and 30 paperback titles annually. Kennedy […]