HarperStudio Closing
With HarperStudio founder Bob Miller departing to Workman Publishing, HarperCollins will close the imprint after the summer list is released. Beginning with the fall 2010 list, books signed by the imprint will be published under other HC imprints, and HC said all imprints will be free to discuss the profit-share scenarios that were the hallmark of HarperStudio on a book-by-book basis.
The HarperStudio staff will remain with HC, including associate publisher Debbie Stier, who will continue as director of digital marketing for all of HC while acquiring books for all imprints as editor-at-large.
Rich Leaving 'NYT’ Pub Beat
Motoko Rich will be leaving the publishing beat for the New York Times in early May. Rich, along with metro reporter Michael Powell, will be joining the Business Day section to cover the economy. Rich has been covering publishing for four years. No replacement has been named yet.
Van Metre Up At Abrams
Following former publisher Howard W. Reeves’s move to become editor-at-large earlier this year, Abrams named Susan Van Metre v-p and publisher for Abrams Books for Young Readers and Amulet Books. Senior editor Tamar Brazis, who has edited such books as Laura Numeroff’s Jellybeans picture book series, is being promoted to executive editor.
Barton Rises at OUP
Oxford University Press has created a new operating structure and named Tim Barton to head it. The new alignment puts OUP USA together with the press’s U.K. academic and journals divisions. Barton, currently president of OUP Inc., will assume his new assignment in July following the retirement of Martin Richardson, current managing director of the U.K. academic and journals divisions. The press is looking for a replacement to take over Barton’s day-to-day duties in the U.S.
New Google Lawsuit
Graphic artists and photographers filed a class action suit in federal court claiming Google’s book-scanning program infringes the copyrights of artists and photographers. The suit, which seeks “monetary, injunctive, and declaratory relief,” comes after Judge Denny Chin denied a request by the artists to join the current $125 million class action settlement with authors and publishers. Eugene Mopsick, president of the American Society of Media Photographers (ASMP), one of the lead plaintiffs in the suit, said the visual artists “were left with little choice but to go away, or to file our own class action.” A Google spokesperson said the company is “confident that Google Books is fully compliant with U.S. and international copyright law.”
