Amazon Publishing to Expand in Europe, Kirshbaum Takes Larger U.S. Role

In a letter from Jeff Belle, v-p of books and the head of Amazon Publishing, significant organizational changes at the publisher were announced.

Vicky Griffith, publisher of Amazon's West Coast group, will be relocating in 2013 from Seattle to Amazon Publishing's EU headquarters in Luxembourg. In the U.S., Larry Kirshbaum, publisher of the East Coast group, will now assume editorial leadership for the Seattle and New York adult imprints, as well as Amazon Children's Publishing.

As part of the European expansion, Belle said Amazon will add a staff of editors and marketers and will focusing on expanding the English-language audience through its English-lanaguage bookstores in the U.K., Germany, France, Italy, and Spain.

In other changes, Daphne Durham will step into the role of editor-in-chief across all adult imprints, reporting to Kirshbaum. Amy Bates will oversee operations across Amazon's entire publishing business. West Coast marketing chief Mikyla Bruder will oversee global marketing efforts across all imprints. Philip Patrick, who has been leading Amazon's rights and licensing team, will now lead the publisher's larger business development, rights and sales teams across all imprints. Brooke Gilbert, will continue to lead the author services team.

In his letter, Belle made note of some successful Amazon Publishing titles, including Timothy Ferriss's The 4-Hour Chef, released last week to 60,000 copies sold, print and Kindle combined (Nielsen BookScan reported 29,000 copies sold). According to BookScan, Ferriss's last book, The 4-Hour Body (Crown), sold 47,000 copies in its first week, giving The 4-Hour Chef a significant drop-off in debut sales.

Two short-form stories were highlighted by Belle: Thomas & Mercer's "The Book Case" by Nelson DeMille has sold over 200,000 copies and "Thorn in My Side" by Karin Slaughter has sold over 100,000 copies. Both titles were published as Kindle Singles. In January, the third book in the Hangman's Daughter series, The Beggar King, will be released. The series has sold over 500,000 copies.