Watrous Globe Pequot President
Scott Watrous has been appointed president of Globe Pequot Press. Watrous, who starts May 8, has been publisher and COO of Adams Media Publishers since 2001. Before joining Adams, Watrous spent 14 years in sales at Random House. Watrous succeeds Linda Kennedy, who stepped down earlier this year.
Team to Head Adams
With the departure of Scott Watrous, Adams announced that a three-person executive team with lead the company. Gary Krebs will continue to direct the publishing program as executive publishing director; Karen Cooper will remain head of Adams's marketing and publicity functions; and Jeanne Emanuel, executive director of sales, will add responsibility for Adams's proprietary publishing program.
Callanan New Bowker Prez
Annie Callanan has been named president and CEO of Bowker, replacing Michael Cairns, who resigned in January. Callanan has served as an executive at several major business-to-business companies, and most recently was executive v-p of the life science group at Advanstar Communications. Before joining Advanstar, Callanan was a senior v-p at CMP Media.
George Lucas Launches First Book
Star Wars creator George Lucas, through his George Lucas Books imprint, will release his first title next month. Cinema by the Bay by Sheerly Avni is a coffee-table book celebrating films produced by studios in the San Francisco Bay area. Welcome Books produced the title and will distribute. Lucas's director of publishing, Lucy Autrey Wilson, called the imprint's growth plan "evolutionary," and said the imprint will not release any additional books until 2007.
Drew to Retire
Lisa Drew will retire as head of Lisa Drew Books June 30. Drew, who held top spots at Doubleday and Morrow, started her imprint at Macmillan/Scribner in 1993 and continued it at Simon & Schuster. The list of writers she has worked with include the Bushes, John Douglas, Caroline Kennedy, and Howell Raines. Drew's authors are being reassigned to other Scribner editors, and titles under contract to be released as Lisa Drew Books will be released under that imprint.
E-book Sales Hit $11.9 Million
The International Digital Publishing Forum reported last week that e-book sales from 18 companies totaled $11.9 million in 2005. The number of unit sales was just under 1.7 million, and 5,242 e-book titles were published. Results are not comparable to 2004, since not all the same publishers reported in both years.
Correction
The New York Times Book Review will name the best fiction work since 1980 in its May 21 issue, not May 22, as reported in Sara Nelson's April 17 column. The Herald Tribune survey was done in 1965, not 1950.
Children's Bestsellers
In our Facts and Figures 2005 issue (Mar. 27), a few publishers were left off our list of children's bestsellers. Love You Forever by Robert Munsch (Firefly) sold 435,124 copies in 2005, placing it as #19 in paperback backlist. And Poetry Speaks to Children(Sourcebooks), edited by Elise Paschen, sold 77,115 copies, placing it as #92 in hardcover frontlist. A few other publishers who did not submit their titles have been added as well. Please check out the updated listings at www.publishersweekly.com/childrensfactsandfigures.
