Disney has named Sarah Weisinger as senior v-p, group publisher for Disney Publishing Worldwide. Weisinger has worked at Disney since 2000 and was most recently senior v-p, operations, Consumer Products, Games and Publishing division. She will report to Stephanie Young, president of Consumer Products, Games and Publishing.
The announcement is the latest evolution of Disney Publishing following the sale of some 1,100 titles to Hachette Book Group last February. At the time, Disney said it decided to sell the titles in order to focus on books and authors who could leverage the most out of Disney's global platforms.
Weisinger will take over a publishing division that produces a wide array of products, including books, comics, magazines and digital stories, both in-house and with an array of global licensors. The publisher works with several top selling authors who have developed franchises of their own, including Rick Riordan, who gives his name to the Rick Riordan Presents imprint, and Melissa de la Cruz, who collaborates with Disney to develop new stories as part of the new Melissa de la Cruz Studio imprint.
In her new role, Weisinger said she will be focused on adapting content from Disney's various businesses to the way people now consume entertainment. "As consumer behaviors continue to shift online and our world becomes ever connected, we need to deliver characters and stories where and how the consumer wants them, in the formats they crave,” she told PW.
Among the brands the publishing division collaborates with across Disney are Marvel, Pixar, 20th Century Studios and National Geographic. Several authors have also been tasked with reimagining classic Disney fairy tales for contemporary audiences. One such book, If the Show Fits by Julie Murphy (August 2021) takes the Cinderella story and transports it into the 21st century. New Star Wars storylines are being created, including the recent launch of the all-ages, multi-format Star Wars: The High Republic series in the U.S. and Star Wars: The Vow of the Silver Dawn, a serialized online story being published in China on the China Literature platform.
