Pat Schroeder is stepping down as head of the Association of American Publishers after running the organization for 12 years. According to an Associated Press report from Hillel Italie, Schroeder, who previously served as a Congresswoman from Colorado and ran for president in 1988, said “I’m still in the process of composing my life and while there’s always a certain amount of sadness at leave-taking, this is the right time for me to move on.” She’ll be replaced in April by another former member of Congress, Tom Allen.

Schroeder brought star power to the job that proved fortuitous in tough times for the book industry. As Italie notes, she was “an energetic advocate for copyright protection, clashing with Google and even with libraries over the distribution of digital texts. She also caused some controversy when in 2007 she said that liberals read more books than conservatives.” But her departure comes “at a particularly critical time for publishers, who have been laying off employees, freezing salaries and offering lower advances for books in response to a harsh economy. The industry also is in the midst of a historic transition with the rise of online selling and publishing, and a small, but expanding market for electronic books.”

Tom Allen

For his part, Allen seems — well, not particularly qualified, and admits “a major, major factor” in his taking the job was that it would allow him to be home in Maine more often. He did note that he loves boks, however, and that when he ran for the Senate last year, among those contributing to his losing campaign were Stephen King and Richard Russo.