Wednesday, January 18, 2017

Publishers Lunch



Catherine Onder will join Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Children's as svp and publisher on February 6, based in New York. Onder fills the position vacated when Betsy Groban left HMH last summer. Most recently she was editorial director at Bloomsbury Children's. HMH trade president Ellen Archer says in the announcement, "She has a wealth of experience and a tremendous track record in middle reader and young adult publishing. Working with our gifted editors, she will direct and grow both our front and backlist business to new levels of excellence." Onder comments, "I'm proud to join HMH with its rich tradition of children’s publishing of the highest caliber," adding, "I look forward to building on the house's achievements, and I'm excited for new opportunities to drive further success."

HarperCollins' conservative imprint Broadside Books, which has been without a leader since founder Adam Bellow moved to St. Martin's last fall, has hired Eric Nelson as vp, editorial director, starting January 25. Currently executive editor at Portfolio, Nelson will report to Jonathan Burnham. He comments in the announcement, "This is an important moment in conservative intellectual life and I'm honored to take a part in helping the brightest voices shine through." Nelson will acquire for Harper and Harper Business as well.

At Lee & Low Books, longtime editorial director Louise May will step back from her administrative responsibilities on March 1 to become editor-at-large. Executive editor at Arthur A. Levine Books Cheryl Klein will take over as editorial director.

Randall Klein recently left his position as an editor at Diversion Books to start Randall Klein Books, offering editorial services.

Former Bloomsbury UK senior commissioning editor Bill Swainson is joining Oneworld as editor at large for nonfiction.

Forthcoming
Ivanka Trump's book Women Who Work, originally scheduled for publication March 7, has been pushed back to an early May release. Publisher Portfolio said the shift is to "accommodate these momentous changes in Ivanka's life and give her time to settle her children into their new home, schools and city."

Digital Announcements
The latest local ebook play to exit the business is South African bookseller Exclusive Books' ebookstore, and once again Rakuten Kobo will take over the servicing of those ebook customers. Going forward, Exclusive Books will direct their online customers to Kobo's site.

In announcements, Pronoun -- the self-publishing platform formerly known as Vook+Booklr+Byliner and now owned by Macmillan -- will boost earnings for distributed authors to 70 percent on ebooks priced at $2.99 or less in the US and Canada. (They pay through 65 percent of proceeds on ebooks priced above $9.99.) 

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