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Loeb & Loeb hosted its second Literary Business and Law Conference on May 20, 2026, in New York City, bringing together book publishers, literary agents, authors, editors and other prominent stakeholders from across the literary, media, entertainment and technology sectors.
The conference opened with a panel dubbed “The Business of Audio Books” featuring Marc Chamlin, chair of the firm’s Television and Literary Publishing practices; Lance Fitzgerald, senior vice president of content and business development at Penguin Random House Audio; Dan Jasnow, head of intellectual property at ElevenLabs; Suemyra Shah, head of content legal affairs at Audible; and Kerri Kolen, an audio specialist and editorial consultant. The discussion explored the opportunities and challenges facing the literary industry in the audiobook space, from content creation and distribution strategies to the accelerating role of artificial intelligence in voice and production.
In the next panel, Loeb Litigation partner Tal Dickstein joined Victor Hendrickson, vice president counsel at Simon & Schuster; Claire Leonard, associate general counsel at Penguin Random House; and Beth Silfin, vice president and deputy general counsel at HarperCollins on the panel “Survey of Major Legal Issues of Book Publishing.” This panel discussed the pre-publication review process, including ways to mitigate risks of defamation, right of publicity and copyright claims against a landscape of differentiated state and international laws.
Following lunch, Marc Chamlin returned to the stage for the panel “A Publisher’s Perspective on the Book Industry, Past and Present,” with Madeline McIntosh, former U.S. chief executive officer of Penguin Random House and now co-founder, chief executive officer and publisher at Authors Equity, and Bob Miller, former Publisher at Hyperion Books and Flatiron Books, and now chief executive officer of Bookswork Press. The session was both a historical exploration of the business of publishing and an examination of how the publishing industry is adapting to a rapidly changing marketplace, evolving author expectations, shifting consumer habits and changing dynamics among publishers, technology platforms and creators.
A wine and cheese social closed out the event, allowing attendees to connect with speakers and peers.
To learn more about Loeb’s Literary Publishing practice, please click here.
The conference opened with a panel dubbed “The Business of Audio Books” featuring Marc Chamlin, chair of the firm’s Television and Literary Publishing practices; Lance Fitzgerald, senior vice president of content and business development at Penguin Random House Audio; Dan Jasnow, head of intellectual property at ElevenLabs; Suemyra Shah, head of content legal affairs at Audible; and Kerri Kolen, an audio specialist and editorial consultant. The discussion explored the opportunities and challenges facing the literary industry in the audiobook space, from content creation and distribution strategies to the accelerating role of artificial intelligence in voice and production.
In the next panel, Loeb Litigation partner Tal Dickstein joined Victor Hendrickson, vice president counsel at Simon & Schuster; Claire Leonard, associate general counsel at Penguin Random House; and Beth Silfin, vice president and deputy general counsel at HarperCollins on the panel “Survey of Major Legal Issues of Book Publishing.” This panel discussed the pre-publication review process, including ways to mitigate risks of defamation, right of publicity and copyright claims against a landscape of differentiated state and international laws.
Following lunch, Marc Chamlin returned to the stage for the panel “A Publisher’s Perspective on the Book Industry, Past and Present,” with Madeline McIntosh, former U.S. chief executive officer of Penguin Random House and now co-founder, chief executive officer and publisher at Authors Equity, and Bob Miller, former Publisher at Hyperion Books and Flatiron Books, and now chief executive officer of Bookswork Press. The session was both a historical exploration of the business of publishing and an examination of how the publishing industry is adapting to a rapidly changing marketplace, evolving author expectations, shifting consumer habits and changing dynamics among publishers, technology platforms and creators.
A wine and cheese social closed out the event, allowing attendees to connect with speakers and peers.
To learn more about Loeb’s Literary Publishing practice, please click here.
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Chair, Television; Chair, Literary Publishing -
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