Avalon Publishing has hired Michele Martin, formerly COO of the New Jersey Jewish News, to take over the administration of the four publishing houses that form its New York division. The appointment of Martin, who has also worked as a publishing director at Random House and was a deputy publisher at Simon & Schuster, fills a position that has been vacant since Neil Ortenberg, who was both publisher of Thunder's Mouth Press and director of Avalon New York, left the publishing house earlier this year.