Laura Dawson has joined Firebrand Technologies as content chief and head of their content services group. Most recently she has been a consultant specializing in publishing technology issues and she is co-chair of the Book Industry Study Group’s Identification and Rights Committees. Dawson replaces Daniel Lee, who is leaving Firebrand to become managing editor at the Bard Graduate Center in NYC. At Simon & Schuster, Lynnette Spence has been promoted to HR Director, staffing. Former senior editor art, design and photography books at Chronicle for 10 years Alan Rapp has started ARstudio, packaging visual books. The Houston Chronicle says an […]
Personnel
People, Etc.: Holt Hires, Davis Promoted, Highton’s Imprint, Remembering Bookseller Thompson, and Still More
Holt is adding two new editors to their team. Aaron Schlechter will join the house on October 4 as a senior editor. He has been at Overlook Press. The same week, Sarah Bowlin will start there as editor, focused on fiction but also acquiring nonfiction. She has been at Riverhead, assisting two senior editors and acquiring literary fiction. Both will report to president and publisher Steve Rubin. Dawn Davis has been promoted to publisher of Amistad and also join’s HarperCollin’s Ecco imprint as an executive editor, reporting to Daniel Halpern. For Ecco she will acquire general interest fiction, memoir, and […]
People, Etc.
Seth Fishman is joining The Gernert Company as a literary agent. He was most recently at Sterling Lord Literistic, where he worked since 2005. At Profile Books in the UK, Daniel Crewe has been promoted to publisher. The Guardian has an interesting interview with Random UK ceo Gail Rebuck who is careful and measured in her responses–rightfully so, since the paper strains to misconstrue the piece with the headline “How Gail Rebuck turned Tony Blair’s book into a bestseller.” (Rebuck deflects one line of questioning by replying, “We’re not going to go there. You can ask away and I’ll wander […]
People, Etc.
Jill Schwartzman is joining Hyperion as a senior editor, acquiring pop culture, humor, memoir, biography, narrative nonfiction, popular history, and up-market commercial fiction. She was senior editor at Random House Trade Paperbacks. Former Barnes & Noble director of digital content Mike Ferrari has joined Borders, as merchandising director, trade books. Reporting to svp, merchandising Larry Norton, he will oversee categories including mystery/thriller, fiction, romance, science fiction, graphic novels, sports, local titles, business, computers, literary fiction, poetry, performing arts as well as Spanish books. (Before he joined B&N many years ago, Ferrari had worked for Walden.) Paris Review co-founder and former […]
People, Etc.
St. Martin’s has announced a new short-story writing contest, to be judged by Jeffrey Archer. The winner will be offered a publishing contract, with the story of 5,000 words or less issued as an ebook.Jeffrey Archer Presents Candlewick Press is partnering on a TOON Books imprint in October. They will takeover TOON’s eleven-title backlist and aim to publish four to five new books a year starting next spring. TOON was launched in 2008 TOON Books by New Yorker art editor and RAW publisher Françoise Mouly. Flat World Knowledge his hired David Littlehale for the new position of vp of institutional […]
People
Senior director of publicity at William Morrow Dee Dee De Bartlo is leaving after 12 years at HarperCollins to join February Partners, co-founded by her former HarperCollins colleague Gretchen Crary. She says in the announcement, “we really feel the future of the industry is dismantling the silos that exist between publicity and marketing in the big publishing houses and coming up with solutions that maximize a book’s exposure.” Additionally, Kimberly Cowser has joined February Partners as online marketing manager. At Harper UK, Jenny Heller has been promoted to publishing director for general nonfiction at Collins, and Lizzy Gray has been […]