Simon & Schuster evp and the company’s first “digital publisher” Mark Gompertz “has decided to leave” the company, as of March 15. CEO Carolyn Reidy writes that he “has decided it is time to use both his newly-acquired digital skills and his expertise in traditional publishing in a new arena” with “the requirements for digital publishing now incorporated into our day-to-day life here at S&S.” Gompertz joined the company in 1993, as publisher of Touchstone Fireside. Reidy notes that “under his leadership, the imprint doubled in size and expanded into hardcover publishing.” VP and publisher of Howard Books Jonathan Merkh will […]
Personnel
People, Announcements, Etc.: Investment Answer Author Dies; RH Launches Online Book Club Videos
Gordon Murray, who attracted attention recently for self-publishing success with THE INVESTMENT ANSWER, a short book of investment advice he co-authored when he learned he had terminal brain cancer, died on Saturday. The 60-year-old suffered from glioblastoma. The book will be republished by Business Plus on January 25. Random House is working with Pulpwood Queens Book Club founder and author Kathy Patrick to start an online book club featuring interviews with RH authors. The first season has 12 episodes planned, featuring authors including Pat Conroy, Fannie Flagg, Lisa See, and Susan Vreeland. A new episode will be posted weekly at […]
People, Awards, Announcements
At Headline, Jonathan Taylor has been appointed Publishing Director for Non-Fiction, effective March 7. He will also join the Headline board. Previously he was Publishing Director for HarperCollins UK. Simon & Schuster announced that Jeffery Deaver’s contemporary-set James Bond novel, due to be published in May, will be titled CARTE BLANCHE and is set in Dubai.AP Two months after circulating the possibility that Bob Dylan was looking to move to Simon & Schuster for a new book deal, Crain’s New York reports the singer has done just that with a new six-book-contract.Crain’s Similarly, the Arthur Conan Doyle Estate has signed […]
eNews: Google Buys eBook Technologies; More Stats on eBook Bestsellers in the US and UK; Roberts Passes Million; and More
Google has acquired eBook Technologies Inc., co-founded and run by president Garth Conboy and ceo Jon Rivlin, for undisclosed terms. The search giant comments very briefly, “Together, we hope to deliver richer reading experiences on tablets, electronic readers and other portable devices.” Conboy and Rivlin are longtime ebook pioneers, both having served in executive positions at SoftBook Press and then Gemstar in the first ebook bubble. Conboy currently serves as chairman of the board of the IDPF, and Conboy and Rivlin both are the inventors/co-inventors of many ebook-related patents, including cryptography and secure content distribution, eBook UI, resource/database dynamic conversion […]
People, Announcements, Etc.
Kate Hamill is leaving her position as editor at It Books/HarperCollins, where she acquired the #1 NYT bestseller SH*T MY DAD SAYS, to join the business development team of the social publishing and reading site Scribd. Her last day is tomorrow. Going forward, she can be reached at kate@scribd.com. Joe Gores, a three-time Edgar Award winner and most recently, the author of SPADE AND ARCHER, the authorized prequel to THE MALTESE FALCON, died Monday. He was 79 and had been in poor health in recent years. A memorial mass will be held on Friday January 21 at 11:30 a.m. at […]
People, Awards, Etc.
The Association of American Publishers (AAP) has hired Andi Sporkin for the new position of vp, communications, reporting to president Tom Allen. Sporkin will “develop and direct integrated communications, external outreach and marketing for AAP’s advocacy efforts.” Her responsibilities will include legal, legislative and regulatory communications; media relations; industry branding initiatives; public affairs; and management of AAP’s Communications team. Sporkin was vp, communications at NPR from 2005-2008, worked for CBS for 13 years, and also led communications divisions at Disney and Sony Pictures. National Book Network has eliminated six positions in their sales force, which company head Jed Lyons says […]