Ivan's Carousel

by Steven Zeitchik -- Publishers Weekly, 4/4/2005

Putnam last week named Warner associate publisher Ivan Held as its new president, replacing Susan Petersen Kennedy, who had been running the company on an interim basis since the departure of Carole Baron. Putnam has been hit by the decline in sales in name-brand fiction; in an interview Held said that he doesn't plan to reduce the amount of such fiction, but does hope "to acquire in new categories," specifying that he was referring to "a little nonfiction."

Held's appointment set off a domino reaction at the house he leaves behind. Even before Putnam made its announcement, Warner had promoted longtime publicity director Emi Battaglia to Held's old position, a spot that was created for Held several years ago. Battaglia had been in the role for over a decade, most recently supervising the wildly successful campaign for The Daily Show's America (The Book). Later in the week, Battaglia announced that deputy director of publicity Jennifer Romanello will replace her as publicity director. No word on Romanello's replacement.