Layoffs at HarperCollins Include Bowen:
Company Memos Up on Gawker...

Layoffs continue in the publishing world and today's victims are employees of HarperCollins. According to company memos that showed up on Gawker, cuts include the Bowen Press imprint and Publisher Brenda Bowen is leaving the company.

Click here to read the post.

Ginee Seo Resigns from S&S...

Publishers Weekly reports:

Ginee Seo, v-p and editorial director of Ginee Seo Books, an imprint of Atheneum Books for Young Readers at Simon & Schuster, has resigned from her position with the publisher, according to an internal memo sent earlier this week by Atheneum v-p and publisher Emma Dryden.

The short PW piece recalls some other recent changes in editor-driven children's imprints:

The past year has seen several changes at editor-driven children’s imprints at major houses, including the resignations of Laura Geringer and Joanna Cotler from their eponymous imprints at HarperCollins, as well as the formation of two new imprints, HarperCollins’s Bowen Press, headed by Brenda Bowen, and S&S’s Beach Lane Books, with Allyn Johnston at the helm.

Here's the link to the full article.

Saturday Morning Panel: Today in Children's Publishing...

Since I stayed up past two a.m. last night, I didn't make it to the first morning ballroom session on picture books with Arthur Levine, but I did end up having a serendipitious breakfast with illustrator Melanie Hope Greenberg (who was sporting some great temporary tattoos of mermaids in support of her book Mermaids in Parade) and we talked about picture books, so I kept to the morning theme.

After some sub-par $8 oatmeal, I made it to the Today in Children's Publishing panel featuring Brenda Bowen of The Bowen Press and Walden Pond Press, Debra Dorfman of Scholastic, David Gale of Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers, Dianne Hess of Blue Sky and Scholastic Press, Elizabeth Law of Egmont Books USA, and Allyn Johnston of S&S imprint Beach Lane Books. (Interesting to note the the majority of the panel have recently taken on their current positions and several--Bowen Press, Egmont and Beach Lane--are brand new imprints.)

Lin Oliver moderated the panel. One question she asked was What's different now in the industry--what defines children's publishing today?

Here's a little from each panelist:

David Gale: He said publishing now is more complicated and kind of schizophrenic, without rules. The picture book market is still soft. The cost of producing a book is more challenging--tighter P/Ls--it's more difficult to make books earn money on paper when they are trying to get them approved. There's a lot of contradiction, and publishing a book is more of a gamble than ever.

Elizabeth Law: She discussed the fact that a company is always looking for more growth and more cash. And with higher numbers come more pressure.

Dianne Hess: She said marketing is at the forefront of publishing now.

Debra Dorfman: She talked about mass market accounts (Toys'R'Us, Wal-Mart) trying to dictate to them what they should be publishing as well as designs for products and price points.

Brenda Bowen: She said everyone can get their material out there now--as opposed to 10 years ago--via the Internet.

Allyn Johnston: She said, during her days at Harcourt, everything was lumped together in terms of sales. Now, at her new imprint, she feels like there's a spotlight on the outstanding expenses and the pressures on e to sell when their debut list materializes.

Lin Oliver asked if publishers track what's going on online--and they definitely do. They all talked about ways their companies are trying to attract kids to books online, create book projects with interactive elements, finding readers on MySpace, etc. Social networking sites are definitely on publishers' radar it seems.

Michael Stearns Leaving Harper to be an Agent...

I just heard that Editorial Director Michael Stearns will be leaving HarperCollins Children's Books to embark on a new career as an agent, partnering with Nadia Cornier. Brenda Bowen will be taking over Stearns' role as director of foreign acquisitions immediately following the Bologna Book Fair, and the company is looking for a replacement. His last day with Harper will be April 11.

When I get more news, I'll pass it on.

(I know, I'm supposed to be on vacation. But I can't help but read my email. Besides it poured down rain most of the day so I've been inside.)