High-Profile Hires All Over At Miramax Books, recently arrived president Rob Weisbach has hired Judy Hottensen as vp and publisher, starting July 13. Hottensen is currently director of marketing and publicity at Grove/Atlantic. She is charged with “overseeing all marketing and sales plans for all upcoming Miramax titles currently under contract and will work closely with [Weisbach] as we acquire and publish new titles for the book division of Bob and Harvey Weinstein’s new company. Houghton Mifflin will fill the slot as publisher of their children’s book group with Alan Smagler, who begins next week in the company’s Boston office. […]

Wise Out at John Murray; Saddler Goes Independent Again The John Murray imprint is doing so well that publishing director Gordon Wise has been fired, even as the editorial department is expanded. (Managing director Roland Philipps says the changes come “in the light of rapid growth John Murray has achieved since its acquisiton by Hodder Headline in 2002.”) Both a nonfiction publisher and a fiction editor will be recruited, PN reports. Separately, agent John Saddler is leaving Curtis Brown UK to set up his own agency again. Saddler had run an eponymous agency up until joining Curtis Brown in November […]

USA Today Is First with SECRET MAN’s Secrets Though the Washington Post doesn’t acknowledge it in their own article today, the newspaper continues to get beat on the Deep Throat story. USA Today found a copy already on sale and published a story online yesterday afternoon. The closest thing to a revelation in the book is an anecdote about how W. Mark Felt nearly disclosed his secret identity before a grand jury in 1976. Though the investigation was unrelated to Watergate, a juror asked Felt if he was Deep Throat. “According to Woodward, Felt answered ‘no.’ [Justice department prosecutor Stanley] […]

Summer Promotions In Advance of Christmas Film The new film version of THE LION, THE WITCH AND THE WARDROBE doesn’t release until early December, but USA Today reports that retailers are already putting together lavish displays featuring at least some of the 145 different Narnia SKU’s offered by Harper. Target started stocking up in May; Borders is promoting in the front of the store and as part of summer reading displays; and BN will launch table displays later this week. BN children’s buyer Joe Monti says that after the showing of a Narnia trailer in May, “sales have been doubling […]

New Publisher for RH Audio As of early September, Random House svp and director of adult sales Madeline McIntosh will become publisher of the Random House Audio and Large Print Publishing Group. She takes over from Scott Matthews, “who is departing for family reasons.” On Shelby Foote The historian died Monday, at age 88. Washington Post: “Maybe now the Civil War can finally be over. “He had his own internal conflict. He wanted to be known as a novelist but will forever be remembered as the author of a sweetly written, three-volume narrative history of the Civil War and as […]

UK Retail Stays Soft Retailer HMV (owner of the UK’s Waterstone’s) reported full-year results in line with expectations, so the press focuses on the company’s prediction that the UK retail market will remain sluggish. While the Harry Potter release will lift sales numbers, it won’t do much for profits. CEO Alan Giles says, “It’s clearly going to be a hugely competitive market for that title, I don’t think there’s going to be a lot of gross margin in it for anyone, but we’re not expecting that.” In a conference call, Giles also indicated, “Things have improved a little bit since […]