Mitchell Ivers has been promoted to vp, editorial director of Threshold Editions, while continuing in his role as vp, senior editor at Gallery Books. Reka Simonsen will join Atheneum as executive editor, effective March 10. Previously she was executive editor at HMH Children’s. Scholastic has hired Heather McIntosh Cassano for the new position of chief experience officer. She will “help redefine and implement Scholastic”s next generation digital experiences for students, teachers, and parents. Leading a company-wide community of user experience designers, prototypers and user researchers, Ms. Cassano will help create a holistic user experience for Scholastic’s customers.” Most recently, she […]
Personnel
Briefs: WBN Adds Twelve Years A Slave, 100 Million Fifty Shades, and More
World Book Night announced that special editions of Solomon Northup’s public domain book Twelve Years a Slave will be given free to schools for distribution as part of World Book Night on April 23. Executive director Carl Lennertz notes, “One third of our half million free books each year go into underfunded rural and urban high schools, and when Dover Publications offered to work with us on this, we jumped at the chance.” In other announcements, Vintage announced that the Fifty Shades of Grey trilogy has sold 100 million units worldwide. Vintage itself has sold over 45 million units in the […]
People, Etc.
Michael Carley will retire from Simon & Schuster on April 22 after more than 34 years with the company. He started at S&S in 1980 as a field sales manager covering the Pacific Northwest, and added Amazon to his coverage in 1997, the first at S&S to do so. Carley was also the first S&S rep to sell directly to Costco. In a statement, evp, sales & marketing Michael Selleck said that Carley “has always been a passionate reader and his enthusiasm and dedication have been integral to the success of countless books. Michael has been a joy to work […]
People, Etc.
Editor-in-chief of Ace and Roc Books Ginjer Buchanan announced that she will retire in March 2014, exactly 30 years after she was hired by the Berkley Publishing Group, now a division of Penguin Random House. Berkley president and publisher Leslie Gelbman notes: “During her thirty years with Ace and Roc, Ginjer was essential in growing our science fiction and fantasy list and launching the careers of several bestselling authors. Her love for the genre and books in general and dedication to her authors is unparalleled, and she’s a key reason Ace/Roc is one of the preeminent science fiction-fantasy publishers.” Cara Bedick has joined […]
People, Etc.
Nathan Rostron has joined Restless Books as director of marketing. Previously he was an editor at Bookish. Former Bertelsmann ceo Thomas Middelhoff is leaving the board of the New York Times Company, where he has served as a director since 2003. The late Ali Gunn’s company Gunn Media said in a statement, “We intend to keep her business well cared for, as she would have expected. Any current contracts with Gunn Media will be treated as business as usual, whilst outstanding negotiations will be put on hold, for the time being.” The Bookseller says that queries should be directed to Douglas […]
People, Etc.: Ali Gunn Dies
Literary agent Ali Gunn of Gunn Media died in Switzerland of a brain hemorrhage, the Bookseller reports. They say she was found dead Thursday morning. One of her former colleagues at Curtis Brown UK Jonny Geller tells the magazine, “My colleagues are devastated because she was such a life force. She always had a glass of wine and a smile. She was full of color and devoted to her authors. The idea that this has happened so suddenly is really shocking.” Houghton Mifflin Harcourt will expand their Best American Series with a science fiction and fantasy anthology, starting in October […]