Houghton Mifflin

Houghton Mifflin proved itself to be an admirably nimble house this morning when news came that Jon Wertheim, a sportswriter under contract there, had agreed to write a book centered around last weekend's historic Wimbledon match between Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal. Mr. Wertheim, who wrote a cover story on the match for this week's issue of Sports Illustrated, was already working on a book about Federer for Houghton but has, according to Publisher's Weekly, decided to narrow his focus on the rivalry with Nadal.

It's not exactly surprising, considering how thrilled Mr. Wertheim was about this weekend's match.  read more »

Anton Mueller, who was laid off from Houghton Mifflin last month, has found a new job at Bloomsbury USA, a house that recently suffered an upheaval when founding President Karen Rinaldi resigned and went to work for someone else.  read more »

Janet Silver, who lost her position as publisher of Houghton Mifflin's trade division last month when that company was merged with Harcourt, has landed firmly on her feet, joining Nan Talese's eponymous imprint at Doubleday as editor-at-large.

At Houghton, Ms. Silver edited books by Philip Roth, Cynthia Ozick, Jonathan Safran Foer, and a score of other well-known writers. Many in the publishing industry were dismayed when news of her ouster broke. 

In a statement from Doubleday issued this morning, Ms. Talese is quoted as saying, “Over the course of her distinguished career, Janet has nurtured an impressive array of talented writers, providing them the level of support and care their work so richly deserved... Her now joining our imprint is such a natural match, and I am thrilled to welcome her as a colleague.”  read more »

Four editors were laid off last week at Houghton Mifflin and Harcourt, which merged into one company at the end of last year. The layoffs come about a month after Houghton's longtime publisher, Janet Silver, was let go in favor of Harcourt publisher Becky Saletan.

As reported on the industry Web site Publisher's Marketplace, Harcourt is losing one editor-- Stacia Decker-- while Houghton is losing three: Webster Younce, Anton Mueller, and Jane Rosenman.

>> Publisher's Marketplace (sub. only)

A press release from Houghton Mifflin Harcourt just went out announcing that Becky Saletan, who was previously the publisher of Harcourt Trade, has been appointed vice president and publisher of Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Adult Trade.

Janet Silver, meanwhile, is out as vice president and publisher of Houghton Mifflin. She'd been with the company for 24 years, according to HM publicity director Lori Glazer, and spent seven of those as publisher of adult trade.

The shake-up comes as a result of Houghton Mifflin Riverdeep's acquisition of Harcourt's trade and education divisions, which was completed in December.

Ms. Silver follows soon-to-be-former Harcourt Trade president and CEO Dan Farley out the door; Mr. Farley will vacate his post at the end of the month, he told Media Mob over the phone this afternoon, leaving Gary Gentel, who was previously the acting president of Houghton Mifflin trade and reference, at the helm of the newly merged company.

The press release from HMH about Ms. Saletan's appointment reproduced after the jump.  read more »

Janet Silver is out as vice president and publisher of Houghton Mifflin, Media Mob has learned.

The shake-up comes as a result of Houghton Mifflin's acquisition of Harcourt, which was finalized last month.

More details to come.