Andrews/Gordon Ink Two
The husband-and-wife writing team of Ilona Andrews and Andrew Gordon have signed two deals, with different houses. Agent Nancy Yost, at Nancy Yost Literary, handled both agreements. In the first, Yost signed the pair up to continue their Kate Daniels at Ace Books series for mid six figures, with Anne Sowards acquiring world English rights. In the second deal, also for mid six figures, Yost sold world rights for the first three books in a new series to Erika Tsang at Avon. Yost said the Avon series will be set in a world controlled by “modern Medici-like dynasties with paranormally enhanced abilities.”
Delacorte Takes Dayton’s YA Debut
Adult science fiction and fantasy writer Arwen Elys Dayton (Resurrection) is making her YA debut, having sold a trilogy called Seeker to Krista Marino at Delacorte Press. Marino took U.S., Canadian, and open market rights to three books from agent Jodi Reamer at Writers House, and plans to publish book one in spring 2015. The series, which the press hopes will have adult crossover appeal, follows a girl named Quin Kincaid who has been training for years to become a “seeker.” Elaborating on the series, Delacorte said it “has the dynamic combination of an epic family saga in the vein of Game of Thrones, the action of Hunger Games, and the incredibly rich—and deeply conflicted—characters of Graceling, set in a very recognizable future.”
Atheneum Nabs YA Noir
Namrata Tripathi at Atheneum preempted North American rights to a novel called Girl Defective by Simmone Howell. Jill Grinberg, who has an eponymous shingle, handled the sale, and her agency described the title as a “teen noir High Fidelity.” The book follows a 15-year-old girl who, with her older best friend and younger brother, goes “to the dark heart of their Coney Island-esque suburb in search of startling truths.”
Pray Closes Double at Artisan
Artisan senior editor Judy Pray was busy last week, acquiring world rights to two different cookbooks. In the first acquisition, Pray bought a currently untitled work by Cheryl and Griffith Day. The Savannah, Ga.-based bakers (and owners of Back in the Day Bakery) had a hit with their 2012 Artisan debut, The Back in the Day Cookbook, which has 91,000 copies in print. The new book is scheduled for spring 2015 and will feature more recipes, along with, Artisan said, tips on how to lead “a homemade life.” The Days did not use an agent in the deal.
In the second deal, Pray bought, at auction, Joe Carroll’s Smoke, Fire & Fat: Recipes and Strategies for Live-Fire Cooking. Carroll, who owns of-the-moment New York City restaurants Fette Sau and St. Anselm, is writing the book with Nick Fauchald. Agent David Larabell at the David Black Agency brokered the sale, and the title is also set for spring 2015. SMP Gets Royal & Decorative
This week there are three deals from St. Martin’s, two of which come on the heels of the news about the discovery of King Richard III’s remains in an English parking lot. In the first Richard-themed acquisition, Charles Spicer nabbed North American rights to Chris Skidmore’s biography of the British ruler, from agent Georgina Capel. Skidmore is a historian and a Tory member of Parliament.
In the second Richard deal, Michael Flamini bought North American rights, at auction, to Phillipa Langley and historian Michael Jones’s The King’s Grave: The Search for Richard III. Flamini acquired the book from British agent Charles Viney. Langley is the head of the Richard III Society and, SMP said, led the search for his remains. The press added that the book, set for fall 2013, will begin to use Shakespeare’s play about the infamous king as a jumping-off point: “Nothing is more fascinating than a monster, and Richard III, at least in Shakespeare’s hands, is nothing less; but was he really a monster?”
In the third deal, B.J. Berti took U.S. and Canadian rights to a decorating book by Will Taylor. Taylor, a former BBC employee, writes, according to SMP, one of the most popular interior decorating blogs in the world, www.brightbazaarblog.com, which the publisher said, draws over 400,000 readers a month. Berti acquired the title from Jacqui Small in the U.K. and the book, also called Bright Bazaar, will be, SMP said, “an engaging and practical decorating guide.”
Self-Pub’d Diet Hit Goes to Crown
Tom Venuto sold Burn the Fat, Feed the Muscle to Mary Choteborsky at Crown. The book, which was originally self-published, has sold 300,000 units, according to Venuto’s Foundry agents Yfat Reiss Gendell and Stephen Barbara. Choteborsky bought the book in what the two called “a major deal at auction.” Simultaneous to the U.S. deal, Anne Collins at Random House Canada bought Canadian rights.
Glusman Heads to ‘Hollywood’
John Glusman at Norton bought world English rights to Jonathan Gill’s Our Man in Hollywood. The book is about a Russian émigré and Paramount producer who was recruited as a Soviet spy in the 1930s and then became a double agent for the U.S. The book’s lengthy subtitle is The True Story of Boris Morros, The Hollywood Double-Agent Who Broke the Cold War’s Most Notorious Espionage Ring, and it was sold by Dan Conaway at Writers House; Norton is planning a winter 2016 publication.
