TODAY'S NEWS

Reorg at Harvard University Press Eliminates Six Positions
By Jim Milliot
As part of a university-wide downsizing, Harvard University Press has eliminated six positions. According to a spokesperson, a reorganization of the editorial department and the sales and marketing departments resulted in cutting two editorial positions, three marketing jobs and one sales spot. The spokesperson said the reorganization was done as a part of the university's response to the economic downturn and the decline in the value of Harvard’s endowment, and as a result of strategic planning that began before the economic crisis hit last fall. Despite the personnel cuts, no reduction in title output is planned.

Grand Central Acquires Out-of-Print Jackson Bio
By Rachel Deahl
Grand Central is stepping into the Michael Jackson fray, looking to respond to the dearth of titles currently available on the King of Pop with its acquisition of J. Randy Taraborrelli's currently-out-of-print biography on the superstar. Taraborelli's original, Michael Jackson: The Magic and the Madness, published in 1990, will be updated to include details about Jackson's life since the book was originally released; Grand Central is crashing the updated book, to be called Michael Jackson: The Magic, The Madness, The Whole Story, 1958-2009, for mid July. At press time a rep at GC could not confirm a first printing on the updated title, which will be released in hardcover.

Taraborelli's book has already gotten a new lease on life in England; Macmillan UK announced earlier this week that it's bringing the book, as is, back into print, going to press for 100,000 copies. The paperback edition of the title, currently out-of-stock, is currently 62 on the Amazon.co.uk bestseller list.

Random Houses Teams with BookGlutton for Promotion
In an effort to take advantage of the growing number of online book clubs, the Random House Publishing Group has joined forces with the social reading platform BookGlutton in an online promotion of Sarah Dunant’s forthcoming novel Sacred Hearts which will be released July 14. Starting yesterday and running through August, RH will make the first four chapters of Sacred Hearts available to BookGlutton.com users. Avideh Bashirrad, director of marketing for the Random House imprint, said the company chose to go with BookGlutton because of the ability it has to allow users to read the same book simultaneously and share the experience by making notes online, chapter by chapter. Through BookGlutton, readers can also chat in real time with Dunant. “We are looking to cater to online book groups, and we think BookGlutton helps us do that,” Bashirrad said.

RH is lining up other titles to put on BookGlutton. Set for August is No Time to Wave Goodbye by Jacquelyn Mitchard, which Bashirrad expects to be a book club favorite.

Cavallero Stepping Down at Random House Mondadori
Riccardo Cavallero, who has helped build Random House Mondadori into one of the largest Spanish-language publishing houses in the world, will step down as CEO at the end of the year. Cavallero, who has run the joint venture between RH and Mondadori for eight years, is returning to Mondadori as general manager and will be responsible for all of the Milan-based publishers general interest book publishing operations. Read on »

Comings and Goings
If you've been laid off recently, left your job or landed a new position and would like to pass along your contact information to others in the business, send details to pwletters@reedbusiness.com. Please include your full name and former title/company.

Peter Beren has been named an acquisition scout for Running Press. He can be reached at peterberen@aol.com.

Richard Scrivener has left Templar Publishing, and is setting up his own literary agency. He can be reached at Rjscriv@yahoo.co.uk.

You can find a full list of all those who have appeared in Comings and Goings here.

Blogs

MORE STORIES

The PW Morning Report
A Q&A with Jessica Stockton; B&N Matches Kindle E-Book Prices; OUP on Google; Author Tweets Bitterly; Borders UK Launches E-Reader; Gladwell on Anderson Read on »

AUTHORS ON THE AIR

Authors on the Air: Perfection; Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs; The Waxman Report
Today, Good Morning America talked with Julie Metz about Perfection: A Memoir of Betrayal and Renewal (Voice, 978-1401322557, $23.99), which PW called a “dark and affecting memoir. Metz's road to emotional honesty proves cautionary and trying.” Read on »

PICTURE OF THE DAY

Getz Goes Out of This 'World'
Stan Gaz, author of Sites of Impact: Meteorite Craters from Around the World (Princeton Architectural Press), was recently at Marymount Manhattan College discussing his book and his photographs. Gaz (l.) is pictured here with Brian Paul Clamp of Clamp Art (c.) and Dr. Denton S. Ebel (r.), a curator at the Museum of Natural History who is a geologist specializing in meteorites. Submit your pictures here »

JOB OF THE DAY

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