Jennifer Levesque will join Rodale Books on June 17 as editorial director, reporting to Mary Ann Naples. Previously Levesque was editorial director of adult trade books at Abrams. “Over the past 20 years, Jennifer’s list has included a wide range of Rodale-style books—everything from cooking and lifestyle to gardening and sports/active living titles. Her experience with, and passion for, these subjects—along with her strong management expertise—makes Jennifer an ideal leader for the trade editorial team,” Naples said in the announcement. At Red Wheel/Weiser, Kat Salazar has been promoted to publicist and Jordan Overby moves up to associate production director. The […]
Personnel
People, Etc.
Bill Harris has joined BookEnds Literary Agency as director of digital content. Formerly a senior managing editor at Penguin, he has most recently been a freelance editorial and web development consultant. In addition, Beth Campbell has been promoted to literary assistant and rights coordinator. Skyhorse and Start Publishing have finalized their joint acquisition of Night Shade Books, an agreement reached “following a spirited and public debate” among authors, agents, fans, and publishers. According to a statement, Night Shade had net sales in 2012 of approximately $1.5 million. In Denmark, Lindhardt and Ringhof has acquired independent Danish literary house Per Kofod […]
People, Awards, Etc.
Wiley has hired John Kritzmacher as evp, chief financial officer, starting July 1. Current cfo and chief operations officer Ellis Cousens, who previously announced his retirement at the end of fiscal 2014, will “retain responsibility for certain global operations and oversee the company’s $80 million restructuring program.” Kritzmacher, 52, recently served as svp, business operations and organization planning at WebMD and was previously cfo of Lucent Technologies and Global Crossing. On Friday at BEA, the Publishing Hackathon awarded first prize to Evoke — which maps how characters in fiction are emotionally similar to each other as a way of discovering […]
People, Etc.
Sarah Harrison Smith has been named children’s editor at the New York Times Book Review. She was most recently on the paper’s metropolitan desk. Scholastic unveiled the new cover designed by Kazu Kubuishi for HARRY POTTER AND THE CHAMBER OF SECRETS, which will be published on August 27 (along with the other redesigned books in the series) at BEA Thursday morning. At the Audiobook Publishers Association’s Audie Awards ceremony last night at the New-York Historical Society, Graham Greene’s The End of the Affair (read by Colin Firth, Audible) was named named Audiobook of the Year and Bram Stoker’s Dracula (multi-voiced […]
People, and Natan Award’s First Winner
Sourcebooks ceo Dominique Raccah was honored at the opening of BEA on Wednesday with their Industry Ambassador Award. Former IPG distribution executive Mark Suchomel has joined Perseus Books Group’s distribution client services group and will run a new division based in Chicago, Legato Publishing Group. It will operate as “an affiliate” of PGW, “leveraging some of PGW’s scale and best practices in serving independent publishers.” The Random House Publishing Group announced a number of promotions in its publicity department. Maria Braeckel has been promoted to assistant director of publicity, while Greg Kubie moves up to publicity manager. In addition, Michelle Jasmine has been promoted […]
Miller to Start Nonfiction Division for Macmillan, and More
Bob Miller will launch a new, standalone nonfiction division for Macmillan. He will start July 8, and hire “a small editorial staff” (he tells the WSJ he will have two editors), and aims to publish 36 books a year starting in early 2015. Miller says in the announcement, “I couldn’t be happier to return to my roots on 23rd Street, where I learned so many of the publishing values I’ve aspired to ever since. I’m very grateful to John and my Macmillan colleagues–new and old–for this chance to do what I love with such enthusiastic support.” Macmillan ceo John Sargent […]