BTW News Briefs

S&S Reorganizes Sales Force

In a memo from Michael Selleck, executive vice president, sales and marketing, this week Simon & Schuster announced several major changes to its sales and marketing strategies. The company has let go of a number of field sales reps and established a new Telemarketing Group within the Simon & Schuster Sales and Marketing Group, to be based in New York City.

The new Telemarketing Group will be under the direction of Frank Fochetta, vice president and director, field and special sales, with day-to-day management by Jonathan Earls, director, retail development. In a statement, Selleck said that the reorganization "acknowledges the changing nature of the marketplace and provides [S&S] with a flexible, multifaceted plan for addressing the needs of the field bookselling channel. Our telemarketing reps will service a core group of more than 400 independent booksellers, distributors, and educational wholesalers, and will benefit from working in close proximity to their publishing, marketing, sales and supply chain colleagues." The company's goal is to have its new telemarketing team selling to accounts by February 15.

The remaining Field Sales force will be supervised by Michael Croy, director, field sales, and will focus on "urban areas with a large base of key independent retail, wholesale, and educational accounts," said Selleck.

In addition to Field Sales and the newly formed New York Telemarketing team, the S&S Telesales group in Riverside, New Jersey, will continue under the direction of manager Norma Lippincott, who will report to Earls.

Selleck said that Wendy Sheanin, Lucille Rettino, Sarah Lieberman, and the S&S marketing teams will continue provide marketing support and will work closely with independent booksellers, ABA, regional bookselling associations, and the IndieBound program.

Lambda Literary Foundation Names New Executive Director

By a unanimous vote, the Lambda Literary Foundation Board of Trustees has named Tony Valenzuela the group's permanent executive director. Valenzuela had been serving as interim executive director for the past several months.

Valenzuela is a longtime community activist and writer, whose work has focused on LGBT civil rights, sexual liberation, and gay men's health. His previous positions include manager of research and administration at GLASS (Gay & Lesbian Adolescent Social Services) in Los Angeles; administrative director of the Lesbian and Gay Men's Community Center in San Diego; and director of VOICES '96 (Voters Organized in Coalition for the Elections). Valenzuela, a published writer of essays and fiction, is currently working on a memoir. His one-man show, "The (Bad) Boy Next Door," toured to a dozen cities in the U.S.

BISG Appoints New Executive Director

Scott Lubeck, former vice president of technology for Wolters Kluwer Health, Professional and Education, has been named executive director of the Book Industry Study Group.

A 30-year publishing industry veteran, Lubeck has been heavily involved in technology areas and in dealing with the design and implementation of digital initiatives. He led the transformation of Wolters Kluwer Health, Professional and Education from a traditional print medical publisher to a customer-centric one, with new products, new business models, and new technology. Lubeck has also held executive positions with Harvard Business School Publishing and Newsstand, Inc., as well as with Perseus Books Group and National Academy Press.

ACTAR Acquires Birkhauser Architecture & Design Titles

ACTAR Publishing has signed an agreement with Springer Science + Business Media to acquire the architecture and design activities of Birkhauser Verlag.

Birkhauser's natural sciences publishing program, which includes mathematics, history of science, biosciences, civil engineering, and geosciences, will remain with Springer.

ACTA will distribute Birkhauser titles through its ACTAR-D subsidiary.

Lerner Publishing Group Acquires Darby Creek Publishing

On January 4, Lerner Publishing Group announced its acquisition of Darby Creek Publishing from Media Source, the parent company of The Horn Book and Junior Library Guild. Darby Creek, which will operate as an imprint of Lerner, publishes K-12 fiction and nonfiction titles for the school, public library, and trade bookstore markets. Its bestselling authors include Lurlene McDaniel, David Lubar, and Joseph Bruchac.