In an acquisition that brings together two Penguin imprints, Berkley Books and Penguin Young Readers Group have jointly acquired Tammara Webber's self-published novel Easy. Because the novel has a crossover readership covering teens and adult romance readers, the imprints teamed up to acquire print and e-book rights. Penguin will take over sale of the e-book on October 9 and Berkley will release a trade paperback edition on November 6; there will be no separate Young Readers edition.
Don Weisberg, president of Penguin Young Readers, struck the North American rights deal, which is for two books, with agent Jane Dystel of Dystel & Goderich. The book has also sold in a number of foreign countries, with deals closed in, among other places, the U.K., Germany, Italy, Spain and France. Categorized in the newly popular category term "new adult," which is publishing-speak for books that usually feature characters slightly beyond their teenage years, the novel follows a 19-year-old who is, Penguin said, "grappling with the aftermath of a sexual assault and a new love interest." The book has sold 150,000 e-book copies.
Sales for the title will be handled by the adult group which sells Berkley's titles, while Berkley staff and Penguin Young Readers staff will team up on other aspects of the book, from editorial to marketing and publicity.
