Publisher Quits Firm Citing ‘Differences’

In a major upheaval at one of this country’s leading publishing houses, Random House publisher Howard Kaminsky has quit the firm, citing “management differences.”

Random House Chairman and President Robert L. Bernstein said Tuesday that Kaminsky, president and publisher at Random House for the past three years, will be replaced immediately by Joni Evans, who joined Random House just two months ago from Simon & Schuster. Evans will carry the title of executive vice president and publisher of the Random House Adult Trade Imprint.

“This has been rather sudden,” Kaminsky said in a brief interview Tuesday. He refused to discuss the details of his departure, saying only: “All I can stress is how much I have enjoyed working here, and enjoyed the people I’ve worked with.”

Bernstein said Kaminsky’s decision to leave resulted from “disagreements that matured over the years.”

He added: “My hunch is that everyone will think there was some planning when we brought Joni Evans in. The fact is, there was not.”

Evans served most recently as president of the trade division at Simon & Schuster. Previously she was publisher and editor-in-chief of Linden Press, an imprint she founded at Simon & Schuster.

She left Simon & Schuster abruptly, in a move made more complicated by her sticky divorce from Simon & Schuster President Richard Snyder.

Of the new post at Random House, Evans said: “All I can say is it came as a surprise.” She said she had no specific plans for possible new editorial avenues for Random House, explaining, “It’s all too soon.”

She said she had originally joined Random House with the intention of heading her own imprint, but leaped at Bernstein’s offer to take over as publisher.

“Frankly,” she said, “this is the bigger challenge.”

Bernstein predicted that Evans would continue building the “diversified and strong lists” she built at Linden Press and at Simon & Schuster.

“One of the differences in styles is she is more of an editor working on manuscripts after they are in. I think that’s important, and will be very helpful to us,” Bernstein said.