LibreDigital has closed a $15 million Series B funding round, led by new investor Triangle Peak Partners and existing investor Adams Capital Management. (Existing investors include HarperCollins and the New York Times Comany.) They say the new capital will be used by “to expand marketing and development of the company’s digital platform, designed to help publishers go direct to consumers as they access, buy, read and share content across online and mobile platforms.” Rachel Dicker has joined Baker & Taylor as director, publisher digital services, reporting to Linda Gagnon, svp, publisher digital services and business development. She was formerly Director […]
Personnel
People, Booker Longlist and More
Jill Santopolo will join Penguin Children’s Philomel as executive editor in mid-August, reporting to Philomel president and publisher Michael Green. She was formerly senior editor at Balzer & Bray imprint. The Booker Prize Longlist was announced this morning, and Sarah Hall’s How to Paint a Dead Man is the only hope for independent publishers (with Random UK taking 5 slots). Coetzee is a two-time Booker winner; Byatt has won once. The Children’s Book, AS Byatt (Chatto and Windus)Summertime, JM Coetzee (Harvill Secker)The Quickening Maze, Adam Foulds (Jonathan Cape)How to paint a dead man, Sarah Hall (Faber)The Wilderness, Samantha Harvey (Jonathan […]
People
At HarperCollins, Margot Schupf has been named to the new position of SVP, editorial director, digital publishing for the Morrow/Avon/Eos group. She will “oversee e-book publishing from a content perspective, working to create enhanced products that drive sales and create added value for readers.” Schupf will also acquire “high-profile non-fiction” for Morrow, focusing on lifestyle, diet, and health. At the Simon & Schuster imprint, Danielle Lynn and Kimberly Cowser have both joined the publicity department as senior publicists. Most recently Lynn was a publicist at CBS News, and Cowser was previously at Harper. Simon & Schuster Children’s has hired Fiona […]
E. Lynn Harris Dies
“Pioneer of gay black fiction” and “literary entrepreneur E. Lynn Harris died last night, “after being stricken while at the Peninsula Hotel in Beverly Hills” according to the AP. The 54-year-old author was on a book tour for BASKETBALL JONES. His personal assistant indicates to EW “that Harris’ health had declined.” Doubleday says “to our knowledge, the cause of his death is unknown at this time.” Harris’s longtime publicist at Doubleday Alison Rich says: “We at Doubleday are deeply shocked and saddened to learn of E. Lynn Harris’ death at too young an age. His pioneering novels and powerful memoir […]
People
Vanessa Mobley and Lorraine Glennon are joining Broadway reporting to recently-hired publisher Diane Salvatore, starting August 3. Mobley had most recently been at the Penguin Press. Glennon was books editor and senior articles editor at Ladies Home Journal. Webb Younce is leaving Holt and moving to Frankfurt where he will acquire English-language books at Suhrkamp Verlag. At Langenscheidt, Christine Ramos has been promoted to marketing director, and Gina Garza has been promoted to publicity director. Christian Frederking has joined Thames & Hudson as Sales and Marketing Director, an appointment that will take effect after this year’s Frankfurt Book Fair.
Houghton Gets a Trade Publisher in Bruce Nichols, and More People News
In what many may view as a sign of at least temporary stability for Houghton Mifflin Harcourt’s adult trade lines, the unit has filled the vacant position of publisher. (Adult trade publisher Becky Saletan resigned last December and was not replaced.) Bruce Nichols–who saw his position as publisher of the Collins imprint diminished in the reorganization at HarperCollins in February that left him as publisher of the smaller Collins reference line and executive editor at Harper–will take the role as svp, publisher of of Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Adult & Reference Group on August 3. HMH trade & reference president Gary […]