National Geographic eliminated nine jobs in their book division last week “as part of the organization’s response to the evolving marketplace.” Among those leaving are publisher Kevin Mulroy, director of photography books Leah Bendavid-Val, and director of travel publishing Symmie Newhouse. As part of the reorganization, Barbara Brownell Grogan was named vp and editor-in-chief for adult books. And Melina Bellows has been promoted to evp of Children’s Publishing. VP of children’s books Nancy Feresten will report to Bellows, who in turn reports to National Geographic Publishing president John Griffin. VP for communications MJ Jacobsen tells us “the move was a […]
Personnel
On Dalrymple
Provided by Hachette Book Group: Dennis M. Dalrymple died Thursday, March 5, in New York City. He was 67. He is survived by his wife, Jamie Raab, and their children, son Ian Dalrymple and daughter Lola Dalrymple. The cause of death was a cerebral hemorrhage. In a forty year career in book publishing as a literary contracts expert, he consulted with hundreds of authors, publishers and literary agents. He worked with such companies as Avon Books, Dell Publishing and Harper and Row (now HarperCollins), and then joined Warner Books as Director of Contracts where he stayed for 17 years. There, he […]
People: Merkh Takes Over at Howard, and More
Jonathan Merkh joins Howard Books as publisher today, reporting to Mark Gompertz. Merkh spent a brief stint at the William Morris Agency after serving as an executive at Guideposts and publisher of the Nelson Books division at Thomas Nelson. Merkh will oversee all editorial and marketing and the senior management team, including John Howard (who had held the publisher title), will report to him. At Simon & Schuster Children’s, Alexandra Cooper has been promoted to senior editor. Sarah Weinman discovers that bestselling author of DOG ON IT “Spencer Quinn” is actually Cape Cod novelist Peter Abrahams. Publishing contract specialist and […]
Weisbach Launches Management Company, and Much More
Rob Weisbach is starting a “new generation management company,” Rob Weisbach Creative Management, designed to “re-conceive the traditional literary agency as a cross-training development company–one that will work with new and established talent on all aspects of career building. Weisbach represented Norman Ollestad’s CRAZY FOR THE STORM last July. At the time he expressed little interest in serving as a full-time agent, but he explains that his new venture “is broader in scope and service, allowing me to take significant advantage of my range of experience as an editor, publisher, promoter, and entertainment executive. I’ll get to work with both […]
People
Agent Brendan Deneen has joined FinePrint Literary Management. He had been at Objective Entertainment. Robert Riger will join Simon & Schuster Audio as director of the Pimsleur Language Program, taking over from Whit Waterbury. Most recently Riger had been vp, publisher of SparkNotes before leaving last year. In France, Vianney de la Boulaye has joined Hachette Livre as vp, legal affairs, replacing Christine Auffray, who has left the company. Fred Kaplan, author of Lincoln: The Biography of a Writer was named as biographer of the year by online publication The Biographer’s Craft. The BISG is conducting an online survey of […]
AAP to be Run By Another Former Member of Congress
AAP president and ceo since 1997 Pat Schroeder will leave the organization on May 1 “to sail uncharted waters.” Endorsing the fundamental nature of the group as a lobbying organization, the board has hired former six-term Maine Congressman Tom Allen to take over.Allen served on the House Energy and Commerce Committee, Budget Committee, Armed Services Committee, and Government Reform Committee. He says: “AAP advocates on issues of paramount importance ranging from free speech and education to the protection of intellectual property rights and international freedom to publish. I am excited about tackling the challenges of this new position and its […]