Random House Restructures Crown Publishing
By Motoko Rich, New York Times
December 8, 2009,

Random House, the world’s largest trade publishing house, announced on Tuesday a significant restructuring of one of its divisions, the Crown Publishing Group, and that Jenny Frost, president and publisher of that division, was stepping down. The move is part of a reorganization started last year by Markus Dohle, chairman and chief executive of the publishing house.

Under the restructuring of the Crown Publishing Group, Mr. Dohle announced plans to separate that division’s trade publishing units — including general fiction and nonfiction books released under the Crown name, Clarkson Potter cookbooks and titles released by Shaye Areheart Books — from the Random House Audio business and the company’s information unit, which publishes Fodor Travel Guides and Princeton Review guides.

Ms. Frost, a 25-year veteran of Random House, started her career there by founding the Bantam Audio Publishing unit in the mid-1980s. In a restructuring last December, her role was elevated when she inherited several imprints hived from other divisions. Crown Publishing Group has published both of President Obama’s memoirs, works by Ann Coulter, and is scheduled to publish the memoir of President George W. Bush.

Reached by telephone, Ms. Frost, 53, said she was surprised by the decision. “I think that Markus has a different strategic vision,” she said. Ms. Frost said she would now take some time to think about her next career move. “It certainly was not what I was anticipating doing,” she said. During her career, she has published authors including Alice Hoffman, Deepak Chopra and Erik Larson, as well as cookbooks by Bobby Flay and Rachael Ray.

Mr. Dohle appointed Maya Mavjee, executive publisher of Doubleday Canada Publishing Group, as president and publisher of the newly restructured Crown Publishing Group. Ms. Mavjee will start on Jan. 1.