Ten Speed's Phil Wood Dies

Phil Wood, founder of Ten Speed Press and long a leader in the independent publishing market, died Saturday after a lengthy battle with cancer. Wood founded Ten Speed Press in Berkeley in 1971, and built a reputation for publishing editorially distinctive, critically acclaimed and perennially popular books in the business and career, cookbook, and mind, body, and spirit categories. Wood was responsible for one of the industry’s all-time backlist bestsellers, Richard Bolles's What Color Is Your Parachute?, which has sold more than 10 million copies.

Comings and Goings: December 14, 2010

Pete Bohan, former marketing manager at Chronicle Books, is relocating to New York City. He can be reached at petebohan@gmail.com.

Job Moves: December 14, 2010

Matthew Inman has joined Hyperion as an editor. Inman was most recently an associate editor at HarperCollins. The move to Hyperion marks something of a homecoming for Inman, who previously worked for Hyperion's parent company, ABC, as a researcher for ABC Sports/ESPN. At Hyperion Inman will acquire a nonfiction list that includes business, politics, narrative, investigative journalism, and popular culture.

Job Moves: December 13, 2010

Trish Todd has been named v-p and executive editor at Simon & Schuster's flagship imprint. Todd, who was editor-in-chief of Touchstone, is best known for her role in making Philippa Gregory a bestselling franchise. She has acquired and edited books by, among others, Julia Gregson, Kathleen Grissom, Kathleen McGowan, Al Roker, and Paris Hilton.

People: Week of 12/13/10

Crown Diversifies Digital Oversight; Patrick Steps Down

After deciding to give oversight of digital product development to individual publishers, Crown Publishing Group announced that Philip Patrick is stepping down from his dual role as v-p of digital and marketing strategy and publisher of Crown digital group.

Comings and Goings: December 9, 2010

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

Paul Bjornsen, former research manager at Langenscheidt Publishing Group, American Map Corporation & ADC The Map People, can now be reached at bjornsenhome@gmail.com.

Ayrey Named Executive Director of MPiBA

Meghan Goel, president of the board of the Mountains & Plains Independent Booksellers Association and the children's book buyer at Bookpeople in Austin, Texas, announced Wednesday that the organization has hired Laura Ayrey, 33, to be their new executive director. She is replacing Lisa Knudsen who is retiring after 23 years at the helm. Ayrey has been with publisher Gibbs Smith.

Job Moves: December 8, 2010

Sarah Hochman has been named senior editor at David Rosenthal's yet-to-be-named new imprint at Penguin. Hochman, who was most recently a senior editor at Simon & Schuster, will be joining Rosenthal on January 10. Hochman has acquired such titles as I.O.U. by John Lanchester and Savages by Don Winslow, both New York Times bestsellers. Prior to her time at S&S, Hochman worked at W magazine, The New York Observer, and Esquire.

Announcing the Relaunched PW JobZone

Today PW unveils the relaunched PW JobZone, the leading job listings site for members of the publishing community to post and apply for employment opportunities. Our readership is your talent pool. Located at www.publishersweekly.com/jobzone, PW JobZone is a self-serve job posting site, where prospective employers can post job listings for 30 days for $250. Anyone can view active job listings. Opportunities are also available to post job listings from JobZone in PW Daily for an additional fee.

Job Moves: December 7, 2010

Dystel & Goderich Literary Management agent Jim McCarthy has been promoted to v-p at the agency. McCarthy, who started at DGLM as a part-time assistant in 1999 and joined the agency full-time in 2002, has a wide client base that includes bestselling authors such as Richelle Mead and Carrie Ryan.

Notables of 2010

Here are six other major influencers of 2010.

Len Riggio: PW's Person of the Year

By any standard, the past 15 months have been eventful for Barnes & Noble. In September 2009, the company completed its purchase of Barnes & Noble College Booksellers and two months later introduced the Nook, its entry into the e-reader wars. This spring, B&N appointed William Lynch as CEO and announced a $140 million investment to upgrade its digital capabilities.

Comings and Goings: December 3, 2010

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

Latoya West, formerly of the Jamaica-based Ian Randle Publishers, can now be reached at lawpelican@gmail.com.

Riggio is 'PW' Person of the Year

Len Riggio has been involved in bookselling for more than 45 years, but none of those years has been more eventful than 2010 when, as chairman of Barnes & Noble, he led the country's largest bookseller full bore into the digital and e-commerce worlds. For his accomplishments in 2010, Riggio is PW's Person of the Year.

Comings and Goings: December 2, 2010

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

Oriana Leckert, former assistant editor at Stonesong Press, is now a fulltime editorial freelancer and can be reached at oriana.leckert@gmail.com.

Job Moves: December 2, 2010

Courtney Young has been promoted to senior editor for Portfolio, Sentinel, and Current. Young had a solid 2010, having edited four New York Times bestsellers: Linchpin by Seth Godin, Bury My Heart At Conference Room B by Stan Slap, Win Forever by Pete Carroll, and most recently All the Devils Are Here by Bethany McLean and Joe Nocera.

Job Moves: December 1, 2010

Disney Publishing Worldwide has named Emily Meehan executive editor for Disney-Hyperion Books. Meehan will acquire and edit young adult novels as well as middle grade and picture books for the Disney-Hyperion list.


Laura Mazer has been named executive editor for Soft Skull Press. Mazer will also continue in her current role as managing editor for all the Counterpoint imprints.

Eisemann Named Head of Holt's Publicity Team

Filling the position Nicole Dewey left vacant last month after decamping for Little, Brown, Henry Holt has hired Patricia Eisemann as director of publicity.

Job Moves: November 30, 2010

Orbit, the science fiction and fantasy imprint of Little, Brown, has appointed Anne Clarke as its new UK editorial director following the departure of Darren Nash. Clarke is currently a commissioning editor at Hodder & Stoughton, where she has been in the fiction editorial department for six years.