David Nudo spent a long and distinguished career as the sales director for Reed Business Information (the parent company of Publishers Weekly) where he launched a special sales department for PW, as well as for its affiliated publications Library Journal and School Library Journal. Then he went over to the New York Times, where he served as managing director of book advertising. But now, as PW Daily reports, Nudo is coming back to the fold to become PW's publisher, effective October 2. He will report to executive v-p/publisher of the Reed Business Information publishing group Bill McGorry.

"I am thrilled we were able to entice David to return to RBI," said RBI CEO Tad Smith. "I look forward to the leadership he will bring to what is already a great team." One particular initiative Nudo will spearhead is PW's move to a different circulation model where bookstores and other book retails will stock PW at no cost. "The industry has changed," said Nudo. "We want to make sure that all booksellers look to PW as the authority about what is going on in the business and what books they should be selling and why." What Nudo doesn't say, but which we're happy to infer, is that PW faces more competition than ever from print and online outlets including yours truly - and to keep a leg up, they have to reach out to booksellers that much more..