Tor Re-ups Schwab
V.E. Schwab, whose novel Vicious was named one of PW’s best books of 2013 for SF/Fantasy/Horror, closed a new two-book deal with her current publisher, Tor. Miriam Weinberg took world English rights to A Darker Shade of Magic and its sequel from agent Holly Root at Waxman Leavell Literary. Darker, Root said, is set in a “series of magically connected parallel Londons,” where “the last of a line of blood mages and a pickpocket specializing in magical artifacts must combine forces to save the worlds—all of them.”
McLachlan Gets ‘Flirty’ for Feiwel
At Feiwel and Friends, Liz Szabla preempted North American rights in a four-book deal, to the debut YA series Ladybirds by Brit Jenny McLachlan. Book one is called Flirty Dancing and was pitched as “Geek Girl meets Dirty Dancing;” Miriam Altshuler, who has an eponymous agency, handled the sale on behalf of Julia Churchill at British shingle A.M. Heath. (In the U.K., Bloomsbury will be publishing the series.) Anna Roberto at Feiwel will be editing Ladybirds, which is set to launch in fall 2015. The books follow a group of friends, and Flirty Dancing focuses on a girl who signs up for a dance class where she is partnered with, as the agency explained, the “hottie” at school who also happens to be the boyfriend of a bullying queen bee.
Gold Takes ‘Mommy Group’ To Atria
Sarah Durand at Atria Books took North American rights, at auction, to Elizabeth Isadora Gold’s The Mommy Group: Freaking Out, F**king Up, and the First Two Years. The book uses as its jumping off point an essay the author wrote for the Anxiety series in the New York Times’ Opinionator section. The May 2013 piece, “Meltdown in Motherland,” drew over 200 comments online, and in it, Gold shares her experience with postpartum depression. Agent Terra Chalberg, at Chalberg & Sussman, represented the author. Chalberg said the book will be about Gold’s mommy group, and will blend “memoir, research, and reporting,” as it explores and charts the personal issues the seven members share over the course of two years in their weekly meetings.
NAL Nabs Indie Author
In a six-figure deal, Kerry Donovan at NAL took world rights to four new adult books by Penelope Douglas. The deal, which agent Jane Dystel at Dystel & Goderich Literary Management brokered, covers Douglas’s originally self-published novels Bully and Until You (both from her Fall Away series), along with two new works, Rival and Native. Douglas self-published Bully in June 2013 and then followed with Until You in December; both books landed on the New York Times e-book fiction bestseller list, and DGLM said Donovan has sold over 200,000 copies of the titles, combined.
Farm Sanctuary to Rodale
Gene Baur, hailed as “the conscience of the food movement” by Time and president and co-founder of the Farm Sanctuary, has sold his second book, Living the Farm Sanctuary Life, to Rodale senior editor Ursula Cary, who took U.S., Canadian, and open-market rights. Yfat Reiss Gendell at Foundry Literary + Media brokered the deal. The book, which will be coauthored by Gene Stone (Forks Over Knives), is scheduled for spring 2015, and Rodale said it “will be filled with practical, thoughtful wisdom about how to harness the spirit of the sanctuary and bring it back into your life.” Farm Sanctuary is one of the nation’s largest and most effective farm animal rescue and protection organizations.
