The Crown Publishing Group has reorganized its religious publishing program, moving all of its Catholic books under the Image Books imprint and in the process doing away with the Doubleday Religion imprint. Under the reorganization, announced by Michael Palgon, senior v-p and deputy publisher of Crown, all Catholic-interest titles regardless of format will be overseen by Trace Murphy, editor-in-chief of Image. Murphy will now report to Steve Cobb, who adds the title of president and publisher of Image Books to his duties overseeing Waterbrook Multnomah, which is based in Colorado Springs.
While Image editorial, production and art will remain in New York, marketing, publicity, and sales administration will move to Colorado under the direction of Carie Freimuth, v-p, association publisher for Waterbrook Multnomah and Image. In making the announcement, Palgon noted “our Catholic-interest authors and books will benefit greatly from the keen strategic focus and innovative practices that Steve, Carie, and their team have developed, including Web-based direct-to-consumer and direct-to-church programs that will be adapted for the Catholic market.”
