With sales of single titles becoming a more important part of its revenue mix, Harlequin is realigning its editorial structure. Effective January 1, Harlequin will change the basis of its editorial organization from geography to content.
Under the reorganization, Tara Gavin will become editorial director for series, overseeing the Harlequin, Silhouette and Steeple Hill imprints. She will be based in New York. Dianne Moggy has been named editorial director for single titles and will be responsible for the Mira and Red Dress Ink imprints and will oversee individual titles released under the Harlequin and Silhouette names. She will be based in Toronto. Karin Stoecker has been appointed editorial director for the company's overseas operations. Based in the U.K., Stoecker will be responsible for distribution of the company's titles in international markets. Randall Toye will become editorial director for editorial planning and programs, in which capacity he will run the World Wide Mystery and Gold Eagle imprints as well as managing the publisher's backlist. Toye will also be in charge of strategic initiatives. The fifth editorial director is Malle Vallik, who will be in charge of new product development as well as the creation of original content for the company's Web site, eHarlequin.com. Toye and Vallik will be based in Toronto.
All five editorial directors will report to Isabel Swift, v-p, editorial, for Harlequin. Swift said the reorganization will provide "better focus on our different segments," as part of Harlequin's commitment to "aggressively grow both our single-title and series businesses." Rather than dealing with different formats for a particular region, the new structure will allow the editorial team to concentrate on a single content area, Swift said.
As part of its commitment to expanding its single-title program, Moggy said, Harlequin will publish 130 original single titles next year. The company's Red Dress imprint, which was launched last November, will up its output from one trade paperback per month to two per month from January through October and will publish three per month beginning in November. Red Dress will also publish its first hardcover in July, and hardcovers will be released regularly in 2004.
