It didn't take long for Bill Shinker to find a new home following his departure from the Free Press this spring (News, Apr. 9). Penguin Putnam announced last week that Shinker has been named a senior v-p of the company and publisher of a newly formed, as yet unnamed imprint.
The new imprint, which is scheduled to launch in fall 2002, will publish mostly nonfiction works with an occasional fiction title. Shinker will publish in a range of categories including narrative nonfiction, business and personal finance, memoir, current affairs, golf and popular culture. Penguin said the imprint will publish about 20 new books a year in a combination of hardcover and trade paperback plus trade paperback reprints.
Shinker told PW he met with Penguin president Phyllis Grann shortly after he left Free Press. "My goals of just concentrating on publishing books with a small staff and two or three editors were what Phyllis was looking for," Shinker said. Functions such as marketing, publicity, sales and art will be done by Penguin's Dutton imprint where Shinker will work with one-time colleague Carole Baron. He hopes to hire at least one editor by September 4, the date Shinker will officially begin his new duties.
