A few years back, Holly Bemiss left her position as the manager at San Francisco’s A Different Light bookstore and came east to tackle book publicity. Starting out at Simon & Schuster, she made her way up the career ladder to the assistant director’s desk at Houghton Mifflin—until, earlier this summer, she decided it was time for another change. She’s now working at the Susan Rabiner Literary Agency, where she has an eye out for young authors and narrative non-fiction, as well as graphic novels. “Though I’ll miss certain aspects of publicity, like escorting Richard Dawkins to [The Colbert Report] and accepting awards on behalf of Alison Bechdel,” Bemiss said when she emailed me the news, “I’m thrilled to begin working on books at their earliest stage, rather than doing that final publicity push.” Rabiner is also excited by her new hire: “Holly has real star power,” she said when contacted yesterday afternoon. “She’ll have the freedom here to do her very best work. We think authors are going to love working with someone with such a keen sense of the marketplace.”
So what happens to Bemiss’s old job at Houghton? Andy Heidel, a former publicity manager at Dutton and Gotham, was tapped for the position two weeks ago, and he’s “thrilled” with his new responsibilities. “With titles like Maynard and Jennica, Tolstoy Lied, or Proust was a Neuroscientist, you just have to smile when you show up to work,” he says, already working the “subtle” plugs. “Plus, there’s nothing like a stroll through the farmers market on the way to work to shake off a hectic morning commute.”