Suzanne Herz, evp, publisher of Vintage/Anchor has taken the company’s VSO package and will leave on December 15. President and publisher of Knopf Doubleday Group Maya Mavjee writes in the announcement that Herz will continue to work with PRH in “an external, consulting role as John Grisham’s longtime publisher overseeing his frontlist and backlist in concert with John’s Doubleday team.” Hertz has been with the company for 30 years, holding roles including publicist, publicity director, marketing director, associate publisher, and publisher. Mavjee notes, “Over the course of her exemplary three decades (and counting) in the business, she has orchestrated award-winning […]
Personnel
Amy Einhorn Leaves Holt to Become Publisher of Crown Fiction
Amy Einhorn has resigned her position as president and publisher of Henry Holt, which she has held since September 2019, and will leave September 8 in order to join Crown on October 2 in the new position of svp, publisher of Crown Fiction, reporting to Crown Publishing Group president David Drake. Macmillan announced internally that Jamie Raab will oversee Holt “in the interim,” while they search for a new publisher for the division. The co-founder and president of Macmillan’s Celadon Books, Raab moved to the role of publisher-at-large for Macmillan in early 2022. (Holt has also been looking for a […]
Abrams Restructures Marketing and Publicity Departments
Abrams has reorganized its marketing and publicity departments, with “unified” groups now covering both children’s and adult imprints. SVP, marketing and publicity Melanie Chang writes, “The adult and children’s marketers will continue to focus on their areas of expertise, but as a united group. ” At the same time, “With one marketing team and one publicity team across the Abrams publishing programs, the restructure streamlines marketing and publicity resources and expands opportunities.” Vice president of marketing Kim Lauber will now lead children’s and adult marketing. Newly reporting to Lauber are Christian Westermann, senior marketing manager; Danielle Kolodkin, brand and partnership […]
McGraw Hill Stops Business Book Acquisitions
According to an email to affected authors, McGraw Hill Professional “has made the strategic decision to cease frontlist acquisitions in the business category.” Upcoming titles have been canceled, though authors can keep their first advance. As a result, the business editorial team is being laid off. The company did not cite a total number of eliminated positions, though associate editor Jonathan Sperling is among them. A spokesperson told PL, “As part of a realignment within McGraw Hill’s Global Professional group, we will be ramping down frontlist acquisition and publication of new business titles. However, to be clear, McGraw Hill Global […]
IPG Trims Staff on Publishing and Distribution Sides
Independent Publisher Group (IPG) announced internally “a difficult decision…to significantly reduce staff, specially in the Chicago Review Press publishing program.” Following a “challenging” year in 2022, they “started the year by reducing title count by roughly half, and are now making proportionate staff reductions to the size of the list.” Seven jobs were eliminated on the publishing side, and another two positions were cut from distribution staff, where “the distribution side of our business is also struggling to reach sales and revenue targets this year, as we are experiencing poor sell-through and higher than normal returns.” CEO Joe Matthews noted […]
Layoffs at Penguin Random House Follow Their Retirement Offer
On Monday, Penguin Random House US managers executed selected layoffs in publishing groups and functions across the company. The company declined to provide any specifics about the number of people affected, though the layoffs are thought to number about 60 according to multiple people. Interim ceo Nihar Malaviya wrote to staff about the changes on Tuesday morning: “We are halfway through 2023, and while the book market has grown, particularly over recent years, we have also faced significantly increased costs in all areas across the board, and we expect these increases, as well as inflation, to continue. “We have been […]