McGuire to Head Ballantine



Libby McGuire, senior v-p and deputy publisher of the Random House Publishing Group, was named publisher of Ballantine last week. Her promotion was one of a host of changes implemented at RH recently, including the promotions of Caroline Sutton and Bruce Tracy to executive editors at Ballantine. Tracy will continue as editorial director of Villard, which is moving from Random to Ballantine. Nancy Miller, editor-in-chief of Ballantine for five years, has been named executive editor at Random, where she will head her own list.

Other changes include the promotion of Kim Hovey to Ballantine associate publisher; she remains director of marketing. Tom Perry, associate publisher of Random, has added oversight of the marketing and copywriting departments. Sally Marvin is the new publicity director for Random, while Brian McLendon fills that role for Ballantine.

S&S Buys Howard Publishing

Simon & Schuster has acquired Howard Publishing. Based in West Monroe, La., Howard is best known for its Hugs series of inspirational works and also publishes Christian living titles, gift books, devotionals and children's books. In addition to adding 350 titles to its backlist, the Howard purchase will increase S&S's access to the Christian retail marketplace.

Howard will remain in West Monroe under the direction of John Howard, who will be executive v-p and publisher, reporting to Carolyn Reidy, president of S&S's adult publishing division.

AMP Opens U.K. Office

Andrews McMeel Publishing has formed Andrews McMeel Publishing UK and named Jack Straw to head the operation. Straw, currently the managing director of BrownTrout Europe, will split his duties between BrownTrout and AMP UK, which expects to have 200 calendars ready for the U.K. market. A similar agreement for a U.K. book operation is expected to be made before the London Book Fair.

Piracy Losses Top $600 Million

The International Intellectual Property Alliance has estimated that illegal copying of books abroad cost the publishing industry about $606 million in 2005, roughly the same level as 2004. Russia, China, South Korea were among the countries with the largest losses to piracy. Losses for all copyrighted intellectual property to piracy topped $15.8 billion last year, the IIPA estimated.

Harcourt Selling School Library

Harcourt Education is looking to sell its global elementary library operations. On the block are the Heinemann Library, Raintree and Heineman/Raintree Classroom divisions that serve the k—8 market. Harcourt is keeping the rights to the Heinemann name, and is not selling the educational and reference publisher Greenwood/Heinemann, nor the Harcourt Education International unit located in Oxford, England. The units to be sold are located in Chicago, Oxford and Melbourne, Australia.

Slovak Up at Viking

Paul Slovak has been promoted from v-p and associate publisher to publisher at Penguin's Viking imprint. The Viking publisher slot has been empty for some time, and director of publicity Carolyn Coleburn said the new expanded title will allow Slovak to "take on a larger role in shaping the Viking list." Also at Viking, Molly Stern has been named editorial director of fiction, while Wendy Wolf has been appointed to the same post for nonfiction.

Van Straaten To Scholastic

Tracy van Straaten, v-p and executive director of publicity at Simon & Schuster Children's Publishing, will join Scholastic March 27 as v-p, trade publicity, a new position. She will report to Suzanne Murphy, v-p of trade marketing, who left S&S for Scholastic last year.

Authors Fight Trademark Bill

The Authors Guild is mobilizing its membership to oppose a bill that the organization worries would expose authors to potential liability for using trademarks in their works. If passed, the new law would remove liability protection currently in place on noncommercial and news reporting uses of trademarks. The Guild wants its members to ask senators on the Judiciary Committee to reinstate these noncommercial exclusions to the bill.

PowerHouse Is Moving

Art and photo book publisher powerHouse Books is being evicted from its lower Manhattan office space after the building in which it is located was sold in January. PowerHouse moved into the combination office, exhibition and bookstore space on Charlton Street two years ago and has had a month-to-month occupancy arrangement. The new landlords want powerHouse out by March 31. Publicity director Sara Rosen said the publisher is looking at two New York City locations and predicts, "We'll definitely have a new gallery and bookstore space."

HC to Do Erotica Line

HarperCollins's Avon Books division is launching Avon Red, an imprint dedicated to erotica. The line will start in June with two titles and will begin releasing one paperback per month in September. HC will also publish its erotica line in e-book format.