About Me
I am Jim Manney and People of the Book is my personal blog. I have been involved in Catholic publishing since the mid-1970s: first with Servant Books, then with Our Sunday Visitor, and currently with Loyola Press. People of the Book is not part of my work at Loyola Press. My employer likes the idea of this blog, but the people I work for have nothing to do with it.
Here’s a summary of my career in Catholic publishing. I went to work for Servant Books in the mid-1970s, working on both magazines and books. From 1987-1994 I was editor of New Covenant magazine, a monthly magazine of Catholic spirituality. In 1992 New Covenant and I went to Our Sunday Visitor, and I was a book editor for OSV from 1994 to 1998. Since 1998 I have been an editor in the trade division of Loyola Press in Chicago.
I have also been a newspaper reporter for The Record, a daily newspaper in northern New Jersey, and an editor at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor. I have written many magazine articles, particularly during the years when I was editing New Covenant. I have ghostwritten five books, co-authored two, and edited several collections.
Some personal details: my wife Susan and I are the parents of four adult children – a son and three daughters. We live in Ann Arbor, Michigan. I divide my work time between a home office in Ann Arbor and the Loyola Press office in Chicago. Like George Weigel, I think that baseball is God’s game.
I want People of the Book to serve the Catholic book publishing community that I have been part of for so long. I want to draw attention to new developments in our business, notable books, and interesting people. I would also like to have some fun here. Please post your comments. Write to me about developments in our business that deserve attention. Write to me at manney@ameritech.net