Phyllis E. Grann
Grann was responsible for publishing many notable and bestselling authors at Penguin including A. Scott Berg,[2] Judy Blume, Tom Clancy,[2] Patricia Cornwell, Sue Grafton, Daniel Silva, and Kurt Vonnegut.[3] At Doubleday Grann acquired and edited Jeffrey Toobin, Tina Brown, Bob Herbert, Ayelet Waldman and Tim Weiner.His model, which Grann ran with, put the emphasis on fewer but more profitable authors who could be published in hardcover and paperback by a coordinated team."[2] Grann also taught editors about the financial ramifications of day-to-day decisions and gave them free rein as long as they made margins.[2] Here Grann also led the charge as she focused on a "limited number of high-performance books like Tom Clancy's second novel, Red Storm Rising, which sold nearly a million copies in 1986.[3] A publishing insider said of Random House CEO Peter Olson hiring Grann, "I think maybe instead of buying another company he bought a person.[3] Grann was described in a New York magazine article as "a small woman even in heels, with a preternaturally youthful face that leaves you thinking of Barbara Walters.