Deals

Overlook Lands Susan Boyle Bio by Publishers Weekly

Jan 13, 2010

Overlook has acquired the first biography of British reality TV singing sensation Susan Boyle, Dreams Can Come True. Written by Alice Montgomery, the book, which is slated for February 9 and will be simultaneously published in England by Penguin UK, will trace Boyle's arc from a reclusive Scottish spinster to her headline-grabbing appearance singing I Dreamed A Dream on the English reality show, Britain's Got Talent. Boyle's debut album, also called I Dreamed A Dream, has sold m... more »

Deals - 1/11/2010 by Rachel Deahl -- Publishers Weekly

Jan 11, 2010

Twelve Gets Elementary Jonathan Karp at Twelve acquired North American rights to the debut novel The Sherlockian by Graham Moore. Jennifer Joel at ICM brokered the deal for Moore, a recent Columbia grad she described as an obsessive mystery fan since reading Agatha Christie in second grade. The book, which is slated for December 2010, follows two parallel mysteries: the first, set in the present, follows a Sherlock Holmes devotée and a literary researcher investigating the death of... more »

Pfeffer Joins East/West Literary by Publishers Weekly

Jan 11, 2010

Former publishing executive Rubin Pfeffer, who was most recently senior v-p and publisher of Simon & Schuster Children’s Publishing, has gone to the agenting side and is opening an East Coast office for the Los Angeles outfit, East/West Literary. Pfeffer has been brought on as an agent and partner, and will be based in Boston, handling digital initiatives, among other things, for the agency, which specializes in representing children's authors and illustrators.&nbs... more »

RH Children's Signs New Sachar Title by Rachel Deahl -- Publishers Weekly

Jan 07, 2010

  Louis Sachar.  Photo: Perry Hagopian. Random House's Delacorte Press Books for Young Readers imprint has acquired a new YA novel by Louis Sachar called The Cardturner. The title, by the Newbery-winning author of Holes, was sold by Ellen Levine at Trident to Delacorte's Beverly Horowitz, and RH is planning a May 11, 2010, publication. The title w... more »

Deals - 1/04/2010 by Rachel Deahl -- Publishers Weekly

Jan 04, 2010

Double for McGuigan, Triple for Foundry Foundry Literary + Media cofounder Peter McGuigan closed two celebrity deals, selling a rock memoir and a comedic picture book. McGuigan completed a six-figure North American rights deal, at auction, with Ben Schafer of Da Capo for Black Sabbath guitarist Tony Iommi's Iron Man. McGuigan, who described Iommi as one of the forebears of heavy metal, called the book a genre-bending rockology/life story that is “Angela's Ashes meets The Ground Bene... more »

Deals - 12/21/2009 by Rachel Deahl -- Publishers Weekly

Dec 21, 2009

Meat Market Clarkson Potter has taken world rights to a currently untitled book by Joshua and Jessica Applestone, owners of Fleisher’s, the upstate New York butcher shop that has been involved in the “anti-feedlot” meat movement. CP senior editor Rica Allannic acquired the book from Amy Hughes at McCormick Williams, and the Applestones—former vegetarians who, among other things, trained Julie Powell how to butcher (which she chronicled in her latest memoir, Cleaving)&mdas... more »

Authors Guild Calls Dohle Letter "Regrettable and Unhelpful" by Jim Milliot -- Publishers Weekly

Dec 15, 2009

Random House chairman Markus Dohle may have sent this letter to agents in the spirit of collaboration, but that isn’t how the Authors Guild is seeing it. In a message sent to its members this morning, the Guild said it was “regrettable and unhelpful that Random House has chosen to try to intimidate authors and agents over these old book contracts.” The Guild rejected RH’s argument that its older contracts that grant rights to publish “in book form” or &l... more »

Deals: 12/14/2009 by Rachel Deahl -- Publishers Weekly

Dec 14, 2009

HC Goes Undead in Paris Tara Weikum at HarperCollins pre-empted world English rights, in a six-figure three-book deal, to a new zombie series by debut author Amy Huntington. The first book, Sleepwalking, follows a 16-year-old who, after losing her parents, is cast off from her Brooklyn life to live with grandparents in Paris. There she meets, and falls for, a French teen named Vincent, who just happens to be a zombie. Dystel & Goderich's Stacey Glick, who sold the book, said the serie... more »

Deals - 12/07/2009 by by Rachel Deahl -- Publishers Weekly

Dec 07, 2009

Dutton Kids Nabs Hot Debut In what the publisher described as a “heated” auction, Dutton Children’s Books paid seven figures for North American rights to debut novelist Ally Condie’s Matched. The house compared the book to Brave New World and The Handmaid’s Tale, calling the dystopian work “one of the year’s most talked-about manuscripts.” In the book, a 17-year-old girl, who’s spent her life waiting for a group dubbed “The Society&rdqu... more »

Holt Acquires Schiff Bio of Mailer by Publishers Weekly

Dec 01, 2009

Holt has acquired award-winning journalist and screenwriter Stephen Schiff’s forthcoming biography on Norman Mailer. Schiff was critic-at-large for Vanity Fair from 1983 to 1992, where he met and wrote for Steve Rubin, president and publisher of Holt, who acquired world rights to the untitled work. Schiff, who first profiled Mailer in the October 1987 issue of Vanity Fair, was also a staff writer at the New Yorker, and has profiled some of the world’s best known novelists, artists an... more »

Deals - 11/30/2009 by Rachel Deahl -- Publishers Weekly

Nov 30, 2009

Minotaur Goes to Denmark Marcia Markland, at Thomas Dunne, pre-empted two thrillers from the Danish publisher Gyldendal. The books, by siblings Lotte and Søren Hammer, are both set in Denmark. The first title, The Beast Within, which kicks off a series about a detective and his colleagues, is slated to publish in Europe this spring. The second title in the deal, A Price for Everything, was one of the buzzed-about books at Frankfurt and has been sold in France, Germany, Holland, and Norwa... more »

Deals - 11/23/2009 by Rachel Deahl -- Publishers Weekly

Nov 23, 2009

LBYR Gets Ghost Buster-y Agent Jody Hotchkiss, of Hotchkiss and Associates, brokered a deal for Jason Hawes and Grant Wilson, the “ghost busters” on the SyFy channel's reality show Ghost Hunters, to do a middle grade children's series at Little, Brown Books for Young Readers. Hotchkiss, who worked on the proposal with packager Jane Stine of Parachute Properties, sold world rights to two hardcovers to LBYR's Erin Stein. The first book in the tentatively titled Ghost Hunt series is sla... more »

Deals - 11/16/2009 by Rachel Deahl -- Publishers Weekly

Nov 16, 2009

Foundry Closes Three Three deals this week coming out of Foundry Literary + Media. In the first, Asya Muchnick at Little, Brown laid down a six-figure pre-empt for world English rights to Dan O'Malley's debut, The Rook. Agent Mollie Glick, who sold the book, compared it to surreal literary thrillers like The Eyre Affair and The Raw Shark Texts; in the novel, a woman comes to in a London downpour surrounded by bodies donning white gloves. She finds a mysterious note in her pocket th... more »

Little, Brown Inks Snicket Deal with Handler by Jim Milliot -- Publishers Weekly

Nov 11, 2009

Daniel Handler. Daniel Handler, who had a long and successful run with his Lemony Snicket-penned A Series of Unfortunate Events series at HarperCollins, is moving to Little, Brown Books for Young Readers in a five-book deal announced late Wednesday afternoon. Under the agreement, Handler will write four Lemony Snicket titles in a new series, with the first due out in 2012. Before that series hits, ... more »

WEbook Launches AgentInBox to Connect Authors and Agents Online by Jim Milliot -- Publishers Weekly

Nov 11, 2009

WEbook, launched 18 months ago as a collaborative site for writers, has added a new service that links authors and agents. AgentInbox resides on the WEbook home page and will pre-screen submissions from authors before sending them on to appropriate agents. AgentInbox will focus in particular on query letters while also ensuring the manuscripts adhere to basic editorial standards and readiness, said Ardy Khazaei, president of WEbook.  WEbook’s team of in-house and freelance publishing ... more »

Deals - 11/09/2009 by Rachel Deahl -- Publishers Weekly

Nov 09, 2009

Ryan and McNeil Team Up at Vertigo Bob Mecoy at Creative Book Services sold a coming-of-age graphic novel called Bad Houses by artist Carla Speed McNeil and YA novelist Sara Ryan to Joan Hilty at DC’s Vertigo imprint. Hilty took world rights, and Mecoy brokered the deal with Ryan’s agent, Barry Goldblatt. McNeil, who will illustrate, is best known for her work on the self-published sci-fi Web comic Finder, which won the Ignatz for Outstanding Series in 2004 and 2005. Ryan wrote the 2... more »

Holt Wins Auction for New Elizabeth Kolbert Book by Publishers Weekly

Nov 04, 2009

Henry Holt executive editor Gillian Blake has won a hotly contested auction for New Yorker writer Elizabeth Kolbert's new book, The Sixth Extinction. Blake beat out eight other houses for the book, which will be expanded from the author's May 2009 New Yorker piece of the same name. In the book Kolbert looks at mass extinctions throughout history and, as in her 2006 title Field Notes from a Catastrophe (Bloomsbury), offers a sobering look at what could be an outcome of current ecological trends... more »

Deals - 11/02/2009 by Rachel Deahl -- Publishers Weekly

Nov 02, 2009

Harper Teen Pre-empts Paranormal Series Erica Sussman at Harper Teen pre-empted Amy Garvey's paranormal YA series Cold Kiss in a six-figure deal. Maureen Walters at Curtis Brown brokered the two-book deal, which is for world English rights. Garvey, a former Kensington editor who's written romances for both Zebra and Harlequin, is taking her first stab at YA with the series, which is about a girl grappling with the sudden emergence of otherworldly powers and the repercussions of resurrecting her ... more »

Macmillan's Revised Contract Lowers Digital Royalties, Raises Direct to Consumer by Publishers Weekly

Oct 28, 2009

In a letter sent to agents Monday, Macmillan CEO John Sargent outlined plans for the company to begin using a standardized contract for all of the company’s imprints beginning November 9. The goal, said Sargent, is to make a it easier and more efficient to reach a deal as well as to make sure “our author agreements reflect current business realities.” To that end, the new contracts make changes in royalties paid on digital content sales as well as on books sold directly to cons... more »

Deals - 10/26/2009 by Rachel Deahl -- Publishers Weekly

Oct 26, 2009

Cornering Cohen Dan Halpern at Ecco pre-empted U.S. rights to I'm Your Man, Sylvie Simmons's biography of musician Leonard Cohen. Sarah Lazin at Sarah Lazin Books brokered the deal for the title, which follows Cohen from his time as a struggling poet through his rise to fame as a lyricist and songwriter. The book also touches on Cohen's recent time in a Buddhist monastery and his late flush with touring success. Ecco is planning a fall 2011 publication. ... more »

HaperOne Signs Pyschic Sylvia Browne by Publishers Weekly

Oct 21, 2009

HarperCollins's San Francisco-based imprint, HarperOne, has inked psychic (and bestseller) Sylvia Browne to a three-book deal. The contract calls for Browne to publish the titles over the course of three years and will also see HarperOne create The Sylvia Browne Collection, a series that will feature books about spirituality and the supernatural that Browne will have a large roll, per the publisher, in selecting and also supporting through various ways, from writing introductions to promoting on... more »

Deals: 10/19/2009 by Rachel Deahl -- Publishers Weekly

Oct 19, 2009

Questioning the Commander-in-Chief In a quick pre-Frankfurt six-figure sale, Mitchell Ivers at Simon & Schuster/Threshold acquired world English-language rights to The Post-American Presidency by Pamela Geller, the popular Atlas Shrugged blogger, and four-time New York Times bestselling author Robert Spencer (The Truth About Muhammad and The Politically Incorrect Guide to Islam [and the Crusades]). Scott Mendel at the Mendel Media group did the deal and says the book will appeal far beyond T... more »

Simon & Schuster Signs Trilogy Adapted from iTunes App by Rachel Deahl -- Publishers Weekly

Oct 19, 2009

Simon & Schuster's Atria Books imprint has struck a three-book deal with F.J. Lennon for a series based on his popular video game app, Soul Trapper. Emily Bestler, v-p and editorial director of Atria, took world English rights to the three planned titles from Peter Steinberg of The Steinberg Agency. The game, which has sold about 25,000 copies according to the publisher, follows a Hollywood-based 27-year-old musician who's given a device called a Soul Trap that turns him... more »

Bantam Signs Koontz for New Frankenstein Novels by Lynn Andriani -- Publishers Weekly

Oct 15, 2009

Trilogy starts a new story cycle Bantam has signed Dean Koontz for three new Frankenstein novels, which will be the first of the series—launched with two volumes in 2005—that will be published in hardcover. The first new volume, Lost Souls, will be published in May 2010 and begins a new story cycle that will continue with the two subsequent books, to be released in May 2011 and May 2012. The books in Koontz’s original Frankenstein trilogy have been bestsellers, and the third v... more »

Writers House Announces Simultaneous Six-Country Release of Follett’s Next Novel by Lynn Andriani -- Publishers Weekly

Oct 14, 2009

The first major deal out of this year’s Frankfurt Book Fair involves an international laydown of Ken Follett’s next novel, Fall of Giants, which will be the first title in the author’s New Century Trilogy. The simultaneous six-country release—set for September 28, 2010—will coincide with the airing of an eight-hour Pillars of the Earth TV miniseries next fall. Follett’s agent, Amy Berkower of Writers House, made the announcement. Fall of Giants will be publish... more »

Deals: 10/12/2009 by Rachel Deahl -- Publishers Weekly

Oct 12, 2009

Lions in the Mist John Glusman at Harmony bought U.S. and open market rights to Tony Fitzjohn's Lion. Fitzjohn is a British conservationist who's dedicated his life to reintroducing animals to the wild and is best known for his work with George Adamson (star of the 1966 film Born Free). Fitzjohn will discuss his various adventures in the East African bush, including surviving a lion attack. Glusman, who acquired rights from Grainne Fox at Fletcher & Company (working with Caroline Michel at P... more »

Pre-Frankfurt Deals: Two Iowa Writers' M.F.A.s Go at Auction by Rachel Deahl -- Publishers Weekly

Oct 08, 2009

Closing a five-way auction just before the Frankfurt Book Fair, Brian DeFiore sold North American rights to The Evolution of Bruno Littlemore to Cary Goldstein at Twelve. The novel is 26-year-old Benjamin Hale's debut and is presented as the memoir of the first chimp to develop the ability to speak. DeFiore is championing the book as a potential buzz title at the coming fair. Hale wrote the book at the Iowa Writers' Workshop and took home the Michener-Copernicus award for it this year. The nov... more »

Self-Published Guardsman Lands Deal with NAL by Rachel Deahl

Oct 06, 2009

Capt. Benjamin Tupper, a member of the New York National Guard who blogged about his experiences overseas, has just closed a deal with NAL for his book, Welcome to Afghanistan, Send More Ammo. Tupper, who originally self-published the book--its lengthy subtitle is The Tragicomic Art of Making War as an Embedded Trainer in the Afghan National Army--has an interesting backstory: he got an agent, and then a book deal, after an appearance on NPR, compliments of Garry Trudeau. Tupper'... more »

Deals: 10/5/2009 by Rachel Deahl -- Publishers Weekly

Oct 05, 2009

Putnam Lands Guardsman Neil Nyren, at Putnam, took North American rights at auction to two novels by National Guardsman flight engineer Thomas W. Young. The first book, currently untitled, is slated for fall 2010 and is a survival story about passengers on an army plane, carrying a Muslim person of interest, shot down over Afghanistan. Young wrote the 2008 nonfiction book The Speed of Heat (McFarland & Co.). Michael Carlisle at InkWell Management brokered the deal. Hyperion Gets on Smile... more »

Also in the Frankfurt Briefcase by Publishers Weekly

Oct 05, 2009

[In last week’s “Frankfurt Briefcase 2009,” the titles listed under the Sandra Dijkstra Agency are in fact being shopped by the Taryn Fagerness Agency. The titles being shopped by the Dijkstra Agency are below. For our full listing of Frankfurt titles, go to publishersweekly.com/FrankfurtBriefcase2009. Also, Cristina Garcia is the author of The Lady Matador’s Hotel, not Ellen Levine.—Ed.] Dijkstra Agency The agency will have bestseller authors Lisa See and Mo Yan at... more »


Showing  241 - 270 of 309 results