People Round-Up, Early October 2022

PEOPLE

At Macmillan, CFO Dan Schwartz will leave the company on October 14. Holt VP and Executive Director of Publicity Pat Eisemann is retiring on December 2. Arriel Vinson joins Holt as Marketing Manager, having worked previously as Marketing Coordinator for Catapult/Counterpoint/Soft Skull Press. Jazz Key joins Macmillan as Associate Sales Manager, Special Markets, and Lauren McNamara joins as Coordinator, Custom Sales. And Joshua Judd Porter joins Farrar, Straus & Giroux as Assistant Publicist.

Molly Birnbaum joins Ten Speed Press as VP and Editor-in-Chief. She was Founding Editor of America’s Test Kitchen Kids.

Jonathan M. Walker has been named VP, Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion at the Association of American Publishers. Previously he was a dean at George Washington University.

At Simon & Schuster, Danielle Prielipp joins as Marketing Director. Previously she was Assistant Director, Marketing & Email Strategy at St. Martin’s Publishing Group. Melissa Posten, previously Children’s Book Buyer and Director of Inventory at The Novel Neighbor, joins as Telemarketing Account Manager, Southern Region. Brandi Stewart joins as Telesales Account Manager, Western Region. She was previously Children’s Buyer at Changing Hands. Additionally, Kayleigh Webb has left her position as Senior Publicist and Marketer at Gallery Books and Saga Press.

Gregory Brandenburgh joins Mango Publishing’s international rights and sales team. Most recently he was VP and Hampton Roads Associate Publisher at Red Wheel Weiser before retiring from the company at the end of 2021.

At Insight Editions, Tim Golden, lately Director of Sales for Special Markets and New Business Development at Sourcebooks, joins as Director of Business Development Sales. Aliya Burke joins as Associate Director of Marketing; she was previously Marketing Manager at FSB Associates. Alexis Colón-Philabaum, formerly Senior Analyst at The TJX Companies, joins as Licensing Specialist. And Benjie Reyes joins as Performance Marketer.

Diane Landolf has announced a new children’s editorial business, Diane Landolf Editorial. Most recently she was Senior Editor at Random House Children’s.

In agency news, Adefisayo Adeyeye joins Andrea Brown Literary Agency as Contracts/Royalty Coordinator.

Tara Lehmann joins Abrams as Senior Publicist. She was formerly Publicity Director at Oni Press.

At little bee books, Steph Stilwell rejoins the company as Senior Designer. Most recently she was Art Director at Hello!Lucky.

Sabrina Young, lately Executive Editor at Callisto Media, joins Kevin Anderson & Associates as Senior Editor.

At university presses…Dawn Durante joins the University of North Carolina Press as Assistant Editorial Director, starting October 17. She was most recently Editor-in-Chief at University of Texas Press. Molly Woolbright, formerly Senior Publicist at Sasquatch Books, joins University of Washington Press as Publicity Manager. Grigory Tovbis will join Harvard University Press as Senior Editor for Economics, Law, and Technology on November 1; he was previously Senior Editor at Metropolitan Books. At the University of Pittsburgh Press, Will Masami Hammell, previously Senior Academic Writer and Editor for the Department of Medicine at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, joins as Senior Acquisitions Editor. At Yale University Press, Marty Gosser joins as National Accounts Manager. In the past he was Accounts Manager for Perseus Books Group.

At Andrews McMeel Publishing, Marya Pasciuto joins as Editor; she was previously Editor at Callisto Media.

Andrew Nguyen, lately Assistant Editor at Gallery Books/Simon & Schuster, joins Bloomsbury as Assistant Rights Manager. Hannah Rivera joins as Assistant Editor.

Alice Mesjak joins Abraham Associates as Sales Rep.

 

PROMOTIONS

At Macmillan, Clare O’Rourke is promoted to CFO; Jenn Gonzalez is promoted to President, Sales & Marketing; and Gracie Mercado is promoted to EVP, People & Culture. All now report to Jon Yaged, as do Publisher at Large Sally Richardson and SVP, General Counsel Paul Sleven. Meri Croft is now Production Editorial Director, Amanda Crimarco is now Senior Manager of Library Marketing, and Alex Quill is now Senior Manager of Academic Marketing. Matt Mich moves up to Associate Manager, Custom Sales. Ashley Herzig has been promoted to Sales Coordinator. At the Tor Publishing Group, Lucille Rettino is now SVP, Associate Publisher; Lindsey Hall and Kelly Lonesome both move up to Executive Editor; and Oliver Dougherty moves up to Assistant Editor. Caitlin O’Shaughnessy has been promoted to VP, Associate Publisher at Holt, while Conor Mintzer moves up to Publishing Manager & Editor, Special Projects and Alyssa Weinberg becomes Marketing Coordinator. At St. Martin’s Press, Marc Resnick becomes VP and Editorial Director, and Rebecca Lang moves up to Associate Director of Publicity. Mary Moates is now Senior Publicity Manager for St. Martin’s Publishing Group/Wednesday Books. Lisa Bonvissuto has been promoted to Associate Editor at Wednesday Books. At Minotaur, Madeline Haupt moves up to Associate Editor. And at Flatiron, Samantha Zukergood is now Associate Editor.

At ReaderLink, Jim Shriver is now EVP of Operations and Jeremy Armer moves up to EVP of Finance and Analytics. Kristin Bartelme is now SVP, Marketing. Margarita Carillo is now SVP, Human Resources. And Rob Denney becomes Senior Director of Field Service.

Leah Wasielewski has become VP, Associate Publisher for Harper’s hardcover imprints, including Harper, Harper Business, Harper Wave, Broadside, and Harper Design. Kirby Sandmeyer has been promoted to Associate Editor for Harper Business and Harper Wave.

At Simon & Schuster, Stephanie Frerich and Sean Manning both become VP, Executive Editor. Amanda Mulholland, Paige Lytle, and Caroline Pallotta each move up to Senior Managing Editor. Emily Arzeno and Maxwell Smith both become Assistant Managing Editor. Hana Park, Lashanda Anakwah, and Tzipora Baitch are all now Associate Editor. Lauren Castner has been promoted to Associate Director for Special Markets, while Ingrid Carabulea moves up to Marketing Coordinator and Caitlin Morrow becomes Manager, Special Markets. Caroline Bonin becomes Manager of Sales Operations. Roxanne Hagy is now Telemarketing Manager for Special Markets. And Morgan Maple is now Senior Publicist.

Elsewhere in the company…Brianna Yamashita moves up to Executive Director of Marketing at Scribner. At Atria, David Brown has been promoted to Director of Publicity and Marketing. Ariele Fredman becomes Deputy Director of Publicity and Marketing. Falon Kirby and Megan Rudloff have both been promoted to Senior Publicist. At Gallery Books, Mackenzie Hickey is now Associate Director of Marketing; Tyrinne Lewis, Marketing Coordinator; and Lucy Nalen, Publicist. At Avid Reader Press, Alex Primiani has been promoted to Associate Publicity Director. Lisa Quach is now Senior Marketing Manager for Aladdin, Little Simon, Simon Spotlight, Simon Pulse, MTV Books, and Margaret McElderry Books.  At Emily Bestler Books, Lara Jones becomes Editor. At Simon Element, Nan Rittenhouse moves up to Publicist and Emma Taussig moves up to Assistant Editor. And Emily Varga has been promoted to Senior Lecture Agent at Simon & Schuster Speakers Bureau.

At Workman, Rebecca Carlisle becomes VP, Marketing & Publicity for the Workman, Workman Kids, Algonquin Young Readers, and Workman Calendars imprints.

Ryan Hemmer has been named Editor-in-Chief of Fortress Press.

Michelle Malonzo has been promoted to Chief Operating Officer at The Word | A Storytelling Sanctuary and can be reached at m.malonzo@thewordfordiversity.org.

At Penguin Press, Gail Brussel has been promoted to Deputy Publicity Director. Esin Coskun moves up to Associate Publicist at Portfolio.

At Storey Publishing, Carleen Madigan becomes Editorial Director.

Claire Kelley moves up to Director of Marketing for the adult imprint at Seven Stories and its children’s imprint, Triangle Square.

At the University of North Carolina Press, Debbie Gershenowitz has been promoted to Assistant Editorial Director.

In agency news…Keely Boeving has been promoted to Senior Agent at WordServe Literary. At Talcott Notch Literary, Saba Sulaiman moves up to Senior Editor and Amy Collins becomes Agent. Sarah Khalil has been promoted to Agent at Kneerim & Williams. At the Tobias Literary Agency, Sarah N. Fisk is now Associate Agent.

At American Psychological Association Publishing, Samantha Denney and Tim McAdoo both become APA Style Development Manager and Chelsea Lee moves up to APA Style Instructional Lead.

Jeff Barton has been named Trade Sales Manager at Insight Editions.

Kayla Tostevin moves up to Senior Editor at Page Street Kids.

At Berrett-Koehler Publishers, Sarah Modlin is now Editor.

 

DULY NOTED

Aevitas Creative Management has launched ACM Kids & Illustration, to be overseen by senior agent Adriana Dominguez and partner Rick Richter.

Portfolio is launching Thesis, an imprint publishing “urgent idea-driven nonfiction.” The first list will publish in Spring 2023. The imprint is to be led by Sentinel editorial director Bria Sandford and Portfolio editor-in-chief Niki Papadopoulos, with Portfolio president and publisher Adrian Zackheim serving as publisher and Helen Healey rejoining the company to acquire for Thesis, Sentinel, and Portfolio.

HarperCollins has acquired the Maine independent publisher Cider Mill Press, which will become part of the HarperCollins Focus group.

Effective March 1, 2023, Simon & Schuster will take over distribution of Callisto Media, presently distributed by Ingram Publisher Services. Callisto will be among the first client publishers to be distributed out of S&S’s new distribution facility in Jackson, TN.

Beginning June 1, 2023, Penguin Random House Publisher Services will sell and distribute Dark Horse Comics’ front- and backlist books, graphic novels, and manga to the direct market. PRHPS currently sells and distributes Dark Horse’s trade books to bookstores.

Independent Publishers Group has announced the addition of eight new publishers to its Trafalgar Square Publishing division. These are Thad for Arts, Astra Publishing, Salt Desert Media Group, Step by Step, Resilient Hedgehog, and Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh (effective now), and Holmgard Press and Quickthorn Press (effective December 1 and January 1, respectively).

Baker & Taylor Publisher Services has signed a worldwide sales and distribution agreement with Marble Press, effective January 1, 2023.

In January 2023, Ingram Content Group will retire Ingram Publisher Services as a standalone business and its client publishers will move to other Ingram distribution companies. The IPS name will be retained to refer to the full distribution group.

Washington State University now distributes Lost Horse Press and Lynx House Press. Both were previously distributed by University of Washington Press.

Jeff VanderMeer’s literary interests are now represented by Joe Veltre at the Gersh Agency. Veltre already represented VanderMeer for film and TV.