Beier Nabs Nicks Bio, Re-Ups Perrotta
Elizabeth Beier at St. Martin’s Press took North American rights to a biography of Stevie Nicks by Stephen Davis (author of Hammer of the Gods: The Led Zeppelin Saga). The book, which the publisher claims will be the "first comprehensive" take on the singer, is by the man who helped Nicks’s former bandmate, Mick Fleetwood, write his autobiography, which came out in 1990, Fleetwood: My Life and Adventures in Fleetwood Mac. (SMP said Davis first met Nicks in 1988, when he was traveling with Fleetwood Mac and working on that book.) David Vigliano and Anthony Mattero, at Vigliano Associates, represented Davis.
In a second deal for Beier this week, the editor inked Tom Perrotta (Election; Little Children) to a new three-book deal. (SMP is Perrotta’s longtime publisher.) The deal covers a short story collection and two novels; the collection, Nine Inches, is set for fall 2013. Beier took U.S., Canadian, and open market rights from agent Maria Massie at Lippincott Massie McQuilken. Perrotta is currently working on the series adaptation of his latest novel, The Leftovers, at HBO, which Lost co-creator Damon Lindelof is producing.
Dutton Kids Inks Perkins to Double
Stephanie Perkins (Anna and the French Kiss) signed a world English rights, two-book deal with Dutton Children’s v-p and publisher, Julie Strauss-Gabel. The first book—both will be YA novels—is slated for 2014; per the publisher, it will be a horror novel in the vein of the movie Scream in which a cadre of high school students are being stalked and attacked by a mysterious killer with no obvious motive. Kate Schafer Testerman at kt literary represented Perkins in the deal. Perkins is a former bookseller and librarian, and blogs at naturalartificial.blogspot.com.
Hajdu Goes ‘Pop’ for FSG
David Hajdu, author of Lush Life and Positively Fourth Street, among others, sold his latest, Pop: A History of Popular Music in America, to Sean McDonald at Farrar, Straus and Giroux. Agent Chris Calhoun, at the Chris Calhoun Agency, brokered the world rights deal; the book is tentatively scheduled for fall 2014. McDonald said the book will cover “the span of nearly a century, from the emergence of recorded hit songs in the early 20th century to the atomization of pop culture to, well, right about now.” McDonald added that the title will go from “Rudy Vallee to Iggy Pop to Justin Bieber with more than a few stops in between.” Hajdu, who is currently the music critic for the New Republic, has been a finalist for the Eisner Award and NBCC Award.
Trubek Gets Her Penmanship On for Bloomsbury
George Gibson, publishing director at Bloomsbury, took world rights to Anne Trubek’s The History and Uncertain Future of Handwriting in a deal handled by Andrew Blauner at Blauner Books Literary. Trubek teaches English at Oberlin and, in the book, explores a subject she says “has never been a neutral activity.” Elaborating, Trubek said: “This book looks at [handwriting] as a lens through which to view both history and future changes being wrought by the digital age.” Trubek’s first book, 2010’s A Skeptic’s Guide to Writers’ Houses (University of Pennsylvania Press), was named by the Huffington Post as one of the seven best small press books of the past decade. Handwriting is scheduled for 2014.
Davenport Stays ‘Simple’ with GCP
Grand Central Publishing editor-in-chief Deb Futter pre-empted North American rights to Randi Davenport’s debut novel, All Great Things Are Simple. Julie Barer at Barer Literary represented Davenport, whose 2010 debut, the nonfiction book The Boy Who Loved Tornadoes: A Mother’s Story (Algonquin), won the Great Lakes Colleges Associate Prize for Creative Nonfiction. Simple, which is set for May 2013, is based on a true story and, per GCP, follows “a woman determined not to live in the house of a violent man, as her mother and grandmother did before her.”
McCafferty Does Middle Grade for Poppy
For Little, Brown’s Poppy imprint, Elizabeth Bewley signed bestselling author Megan McCafferty to a two-book deal that will launch a new middle-grade series featuring the author’s popular Jessica Darling character. (McCafferty has written five novels in the bestselling Jessica Darling series for Crown’s Three Rivers Press.) The new series, called It List, will mark the author’s first foray into middle-grade fiction, and the first book, Jessica Darling’s It List #1: The (Notso) Guaranteed Guide to Popularity, Prettiness & Perfection, will follow a 12-year-old version of the title character as she begins middle school. The series name refers to a collection of guides Jessica’s older sister, Bethany, left for her. ICM’s Heather Schroder represented McCafferty.
