Harvey to Leave Putnam
Dan Harvey, longtime Putnam marketing vet, will leave the company June 30. Harvey was most recently senior v-p and publishing director for the Putnam Publishing Group and part of the newly constituted Putnam publishing board. Ivan Held, who took over as head of Putnam in April, said he is looking for someone to take over Harvey's marketing and advertising duties, though he might not fill the publishing director position.
Booth Corwin Rises at Rodale
Tami Booth Corwin has been promoted to president of Rodale Books, a newly created post. Corwin joined Rodale in 2000 as executive editor of the women's group and, in April, was named editor-in-chief. As president, Corwin will add oversight of Rodale's marketing efforts, as well as overall responsibility for the book division's editorial operations.
S&S Buys Strebor Line
Simon & Schuster has strengthened its ties to popular erotic novelist Zane, acquiring all the titles of Strebor Books, the publishing house founded by Zane and distributed by S&S that focuses on African-American books. Strebor, which has a backlist of about 50 titles, will become an imprint of Atria Books, with Zane continuing as publisher and reporting to Atria publisher Judith Curr. Zane's own books will continue to be published by Atria.
New Owner For Interweave
Aspire Media has acquired Loveland, Colo.—based Interweave Press. The deal is Aspire's first step in building a multimedia company built around book and magazine hobby publications. Aspire CEO Clay Hall has raised $40 million from private equity firms to acquire enthusiast publishers. At Interweave, founder Linda Ligon will continue as its creative director.
New Javits Show for Comix Pubs
Reed Exhibition, the company that runs BEA (and has the same parent company as PW), is launching a comics trade and fan show called New York Comic-con. Scheduled to run February 24—26, 2006, the New York Comic-con will showcase graphic novels, anime, manga, TV and film, computer games, toys and licensing. The first day will be trade only, before the show opens to the public. DC Comics, Marvel Comics and ADV Films have commited to exhibiting. A number of New York houses, among them Disney, Del Rey Books and Holt/Roaring Brook, also expressed support for the show.
Rippon Steps Down at Collins Design
Laurie Rippon is stepping down as publisher of Collins Design; Marta Schooler, previously Collins Design creative consultant, will succeed her as v-p and publisher. Rippon was named publisher in October 2004. She will stay on as editor-at-large until July. Schooler joined Harper in 1999 and is credited with helping to focus the Collins Design list on pop-cultural material.
Free Freight From M-H
McGraw-Hill will offer a free freight option on its trade titles beginning this fall. Accounts that choose free freight will receive a 45% discount on orders of 25 units or more. M-H will retain its sliding-scale dis- count for customers who do not want free freight.
Alloy to Split
Alloy Entertainment, home to the book publishing and packaging unit of Alloy Inc., will remain part of Alloy following the spinoff of the company's merchandise operation. After the spinoff, which involves Alloy's retail and direct marketing division, the remaining Alloy businesses will be centered around its media and marketing units.
A Blessing Tribute
At a memorial for German publisher Karl Blessing organized by scout Maria Campbell (center), authors Scott Turow, Joseph Kanon, Michael Crichton and A. Scott Berg (far right) paid tribute, while Blessing's partner, Peter Stoll (second from right), observed.
MacDonald Nominated For Lulu
PW contributing editor for comics Heidi MacDonald, best known for her comics blog The Beat, has been nominated by Friends of Lulu, an organization supporting women in the comics industry, for its Women of Distinction award. Other nominees are Karen Berger (Vertigo), Vijaya Iyer (Cartoon Books), Mimi Rosenheim (AIT/PlanetLar) and Diana Schutz (Dark Horse). The award is presented at the San Diego Comic-Con in July.
Shriver Wins Orange Prize
This year's Orange Prize for Fiction was won by Lionel Shriver for We Need to Talk About Kevin. The book plays out the complex emotions of a mother's love and the terrible consequences of its absence. Kevin was released by Serpent's Tail in the U.K. and was pubbed by Counterpoint in the U.S. in 2003 as a hardcover and HarperPerennial last year in paper.
Rapkin Leaves D'day Religion
Michelle Rapkin has resigned as director of religious publishing at Doubleday after a three-year stint. Rapkin chose to leave the company after declining an offer to work three days a week as a senior editor. Doubleday Broadway spokesperson David Drake shot down speculation that Rapkin's departure represented a shift in focus away from Doubleday's heavily Catholic orientation toward the more evangelical publishing efforts of WaterBrook. The Doubleday religious imprint "remains a core imprint for us," he said, adding that the company is "aggressively" looking for a successor to Rapkin.
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