Simon & Schuster CEO Carolyn Reidy has reorganized the company’s adult publishing imprints into four main groups. Under the new structure, the Atria Publishing Group will be led by Judith Curr; the Scribner Publishing Group, by Susan Moldow; the Simon & Schuster Publishing Group, by Jonathan Karp; and the Gallery Publishing Group, will be under Louise Burke. As a result of the reorganization Martha Levin, executive v-p and publisher of Free Press, and Dominick Anfuso, v-p and editorial director, are leaving the company. Other staffer have also been cut, with the total reduction believed to be less than 10.
The restructuring is aimed at streamlining adult operations by putting together imprints that complement each other or as Reidy noted in her memo, creating a structure “that will lead to a sharper editorial focus for our imprints even as it takes consideration of the natural affinities among them.” The new structure will lead to reduced title output in the future.
The major integration moves include bringing the Free Press imprint under Karp’s S&S group, while the religious publisher Howard Books becomes part of the Atria group, and Touchstone, which had reported to Levin, will become part of Scribner.
In his own note about the changes, Karp said that despite the addition of Free Press, “we will maintain our team structure, to allow editors, publicists, and marketing specialists to work closely together in smaller groups so that they can collaborate throughout the life of the book, from submission to backlist.” As for the future of Free Press ,Karp wrote: “we plan to continue publishing thought leaders and other important cultural voices under the Free Press imprimatur, while also introducing many other Free Press authors, such as novelists and historians and business writers, to the flagship Simon & Schuster imprint.” In the coming weeks, S&S will work to integrate the approximately 100 Free Press authors with works-in-progress into the larger Simon & Schuster group,”while also introducing ourselves to backlist authors,” Karp wrote.
As part of S&S, Suzanne Donahue will serve as associate publisher of Free Press. Others joining S&S are Donahue's assistant Laura Tatham, who will also be working with S&S associate publisher Richard Rhorer; senior editor Millicent Bennett will also be joining the group, as will associate director of publicity Larry Hughes, senior publicist Meg Cassidy, associate editor Sydney Tanigawa, marketing specialist Marie Kent, publicist Leah Johanson, and publicity assistant Erin Reback. Assistant editor Nicholas Greene and online marketing manager Elina Vaysbeyn will continue as part of the publishing office.
Within the Atria group, Howard Books’ marketing and editorial team will remain in Nashville under Jonathan Merkh, and the group is also adding some former Free Press members. Those include Leslie Meredith, v-p and senior editor, who will join the Atria editorial team focusing in the fields of nature, food, cooking and health. Associate editor Donna Loffredo, who supports Meredith, will also join the Atria editorial staff, as will editorial assistant Daniella Wexler and Jackie Jou, who is joining Atria’s publisher’s office as publishing manager. In addition, Carisa Hays will be joining the Atria publicity department as v-p, special projects, and Kristin Matzen, is moving to Atria as associate publicist.
To read Reidy’s memo, which includes the promotions of Jon Anderson and Chris Lynch, click here.
