The anonymous tips (and, presumably, phone calls) started going out late yesterday morning, but as best I can make out it was Leon Neyfakh at the Observer who pinned down the details to the level of confirmability late Tuesday afternoon: Janet Silver out, and Becky Saletan in charge at the newly-bonded Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. Saletan is now the senior vice president and publisher of the unified company's adult trade division, a move HMH presiden Gary Gentel heralds in the press release as indicative of "an exciting future" given her "innovative sensibility to publishing."

A little over two years ago, mediabistro.com interviewed Saletan, who described herself as "a big champion of nonfiction" with "a very low threshold for what I perceive as sentimentality or phony emotionalism—sometimes to the detriment of my commercial success, probably!" Also worth noting is her sense of the editor's role in making a successful book: "I see editors as advocates for their books throughout the process. One of the most important things editors do is figure out how to 'talk' their books—how to present them succinctly and powerfully—and then help all the others in turn who must do so: publicists, sales reps, rights directors, etc."