Bill Newlin, a pioneer in travel book publishing and longtime v-p and publisher of Avalon Travel, will retire on June 30, 2024, to be succeeded by associate publisher Jaimee Callaway, according to an announcement from parent company Hachette Book Group.
Newlin will help oversee an office move for the publisher, currently located in Berkeley, Calif., to elsewhere in the Bay Area next year. He has been the publisher of Moon Travel Guides since 1991 and of Avalon since 1999, when Moon merged with the Rick Steves travel guide series.
"It was Bill’s vision that helped Rick grow his guidebook business into the category-leading program it is today, encompassing comprehensive country and city guidebooks as well as many other formats," wrote Kristin Kiser, senior v-p and publisher of the Running Press Group, in an internal memo. "During the pandemic," she added," Bill led his team through a difficult period for travel publishing. The work he and his team did throughout the years to strengthen and grow Moon meant that Moon’s domestic travel titles, including U.S.A. National Parks and other titles focusing on road trips, hiking and outdoor activities, were a bright spot during a hard time."
Callaway has been with HBG since 2016, when it acquired the publishing assets of Perseus Book Group. She started at Perseus 15 years ago as a salesperson selling to B&N.com, and later moved into central marketing. Callaway joined Avalon in 2016 as marketing director, and was named associate publisher in 2020.
