Editor's Note: Book Business Announces Promotions, New Hire

We've learned this year that there's no sitting still in the publishing world. To that end, we here at Book Business are excited to share some big personnel news in our own shop.

For starters, we're pleased to announce that Matt Steinmetz has been named the new publisher of Book Business. Matt's is a name that should be familiar to longtime readers. He began here back in 2005 as an associate editor and rose to special projects editor and editor of our Publishing Business Conference (PBC) program in 2009. After a brief hiatus, Matt returned to the Book Business fold in 2011 in a sales role as a regional account manager. We're banking that his role in building Book Business and the PBC bodes well for our future. Fun fact: Matt served for two years as communications director for the Jon Bon Jovi-owned Arena Football League team the Philadelphia Soul.

We're also pleased to announce the promotion of James Sturdivant to senior editor of Book Business. James, a former editor-in-chief of award-winning independent weekly newspaper the Chestnut Hill Local and managing editor at Elauwit, has plied his top-notch reporting and writing skills here since 2007. You've noticed his insightful, incisive features (we know because he ranks so highly in our yearly reader polls); look forward to more great work from James in the coming year.

And finally there's me, Brian Howard, the new editor of Book Business and the Book Business Extra e-mail newsletter. I come to covering the publishing world from a long career in alternative, community, business and music publications, primarily with the Philadelphia City Paper and Target Marketing magazine, and, most recently, with an urban sustainability-focused Philadelphia magazine called Grid and a start-up national newsstand music magazine called Cowbell. I'm excited to be working under editorial director Noelle Skodzinski and with the aforementioned gentlemen to continue to bring you the most current, most useful publishing news, trends and strategies in 2012 and beyond. Please feel free to e-mail me at bhoward@napco.com with suggestions, ideas, questions, criticisms, holiday recipes, horoscopes, prognostications or exciting international financial opportunities. You can also find me on LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter (@beegee73).