New Gallery Books Unites Two Big S&S Imprints

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October 8 – October 15, 2009 Edition

New Gallery Books Unites Two Big S&S Imprints

NEW YORK, NY/AUTHORLINK NEWS/10/08/09–Simon & Schuster last week joined together its Pocket Books hardcover and trade paperback lines with Simon Spotlight Entertainment as one brand -Gallery Books– and named Pocket publisher Louise Burke as executive vice president and publisher of the new Gallery imprint. Anthony Ziccardi will serve as Vice President and Deputy Publisher, and Jen Bergstrom will take on the role of Vice President and Editor-in-Chief.

“I’m thrilled to have the opportunity to oversee the creation of an exciting new publishing imprint,” said Burke in a staff memo. “Gallery will combine two strong imprints into one larger and more powerful imprint. While Pocket Books has earned a well-deserved reputation as a leading publisher of women’s fiction and, under the Threshold Editions imprint, bestselling conservative books, Simon Spotlight Entertainment, in a short time, has emerged as the publisher of choice for pop-culture books.

“In creating Gallery Books we will unite the editorial and publicity staffs of Pocket Books and Simon Spotlight Entertainment. Our editorial staff will be led by Jennifer Bergstrom as Vice President, Editor-in-Chief of Gallery Books. At SSE, Jen has published a string of high-profile New York Times bestsellers including High On Arrival by Mackenzie Phillips, Are You There, Vodka? It’s Me, Chelsea by Chelsea Handler, sTori Telling by Tori Spelling, Prairie Tale by Melissa Gilbert, and, of course, the book that put SSE on the map-He’s Just Not That Into You by Greg Behrendt and Liz Tuccillo. Jen has tremendous savvy and a great ability to recognize what’s going to make a bestseller, combined with a real flair for how to publish it, all of which have served to garner her and SSE the respect of both agents, who now line up to send her their hottest new projects , and our competitors. In her new role, I expect that she will continue her winning pop-culture streak along with expanding into fiction and other categories of nonfiction,” said Burke.

Tricia Boczkowski will be Vice President, Editorial Director for Gallery Books. Trish has edited bestselling books by Chelsea Handler, Lewis Black, and Jim Norton. Some of her upcoming authors are “Daily Show” correspondent Samantha Bee and comedian Roseanne Barr. She will also be acquiring fiction in her new role.

Mitchell Ivers will be Vice President, Senior Editor of Gallery Books, acquiring both fiction and nonfiction. His diverse list of authors includes Christopher Rice, Ann Rule, Glenn Beck, and Mark Levin.

Lauren McKenna, Executive Editor, will continue editing bestselling fiction and nonfiction. Her list of authors includes Kresley Cole, Mary Alice Monroe, and Karen Robards, along with New York Times bestselling pop-culture books such as From Pieces to Weight by 50 Cent, The Heroin Diaries by Nikki Sixx, and Bret Michaels’ upcoming Between a Rose and a Thorn.

Other senior editors on the Gallery Books staff include Patrick Price, editor of Tori Spelling’s sTori Telling and Mommywood and our upcoming Tim Gunn book; Micki Nuding, who has worked with Sabrina Jeffries and Karen Hawkins; Kathy Sagan, editor of the recent bestseller Still Alice; Abby Zidle, who is editing the upcoming Rita Cosby book; and Jennifer Heddle, editor of the bestselling Ghost Hunting. The other Gallery editors include Ed Schlesinger, Emily Westlake, Jaime Costas, and Megan McKeever.

All of the editors will acquire and edit books for Gallery, the Pocket Books mass market list, and other imprints that reside within the group, including Downtown Press, Karen Hunter Publishing, MTV Books, Star Trek, Threshold Editions, and WWE.

Jennifer Robinson will oversee the publicity department as Vice President, Publicity Director for Gallery Books, with Jean Anne Rose, Publicity Director, reporting to her.

Lisa Keim, Vice President and Director Subsidiary Rights will oversee subsidiary rights for Gallery.

Anthony Ziccardi will continue to serve as Vice President and Deputy Publisher for the entire Pocket Books family of imprints.

The new imprint was announced September 30 by Carolyn K. Reidy, president and chief executive officer of Simon & Schuster.