Laurence Kirshbaum, the former CEO of Time Warner's book division and most recently the founder of a well-respected, 40-client literary agency, has been named publisher of Amazon's New York publishing office.

The move follows the launch of Amazon's fifth imprint — this one for the mysteries and thrillers genre — last week, as well as the hiring of editors to man each of its imprints in recent months.

Kirshbaum will oversee a new general interest imprint that includes both fiction and non-fiction titles in digital and print formats.

He will also hire an editorial team to help manage the publication of these titles, building a somewhat traditional publishing house within the larger Amazon franchise.

His agency will likely be sold to several employees, he said.

Image courtesy of LJK Literary Management