Scottoline Re-ups at SMP
In a six-book deal, bestselling author Lisa Scottoline signed on to write three Rosato & DiNunzio series, as well as three standalone novels, with her current publisher, St. Martin’s Press. Robert Gottlieb at Trident Media Group negotiated the North American with Jennifer Enderlin. Scottoline, an Edgar winner, has been writing the Rosato series for more than 20 years. The first Rosato title under this deal will publish in fall 2016 (with the others following in consecutive fall seasons), while the standalones will be published in consecutive spring seasons.
Priest, Masessa Land at Scholastic
Cheryl Klein at Scholastic’s Arthur A. Levine Books bought world rights to Cherie Priest’s YA novel Drawing Fire. The book, set for fall 2017, was sold by Jennifer Jackson at the Donald Maass Literary Agency. Priest is the author of the Clockwork Century series, and her latest YA, I Am Princess X, was published by Scholastic/Levine in May. In Drawing Fire, she follows a girl who discovers a valuable, ancient comic book in the supposedly haunted house her mother is fixing up. Jackson said Drawing Fire will feature panels from the comic book within the book.
In a separate deal at Scholastic Press, Nick Eliopulos took world rights, in a two-book deal, to Ed Masessa’s middle-grade novel Wandmaker. The book is based on Masessa’s 2006 bestselling crafts title The Wandmaker’s Guidebook, which was published by Scholastic imprint Tangerine Press. In Wandmaker, a boy must “balance the demands of his magical education with the responsibilities of big brotherhood,” the publisher said. The second book in the deal is a sequel to Wandmaker. Agent Marcia Wernick at Wernick & Pratt represented Masessa.
Italian Bestseller to Europa
Europa Editions’ publisher Sandro Ferri took world English rights to Alessandro Baricco’s The Young Bride. Baricco, an Italian author, has written such international bestsellers as Silk (Vintage, 1998) and An Iliad (Knopf, 2006). The Young Bride, which Ferri acquired from Andrew Wylie at the Wylie Agency, is set in the early 20th century and follows a woman who, per the publisher, joins a “noble household.” The novel, which is slated for summer 2016, is, Europa added, written “in a style echoing that of an adult fable.”
Bliss, DiCamillo Partner Up for Candlewick
Cartoonist Harry Bliss (known for his New Yorker cartoons and covers) and Newbery Medal-ist Kate DiCamillo sold, in a six-figure deal, Good Rosie to Candlewick Press. Andrea Tompa and Karen Lotz took world rights to the book—the format of which the publisher plans to reveal at a later date—from Holly McGhee at Pippin Properties. The title, the agency said, explores “what it means to be both a dog and a friend.”
Weber Takes ‘Sofi Snow’ to Thomas Nelson
Thomas Nelson’s Amanda Bostic took world rights, in a three-book deal, to Mary Weber’s The Evaporation of Sofi Snow, the first in a planned duology. Weber was represented by Danielle Smith at Red Fox Literary, and the deal covers a standalone novel, in addition to the duology. Becky Monds will be editing the duology which, Nelson said, is an SF work set in the future in which the titular Native American character sets out to rescue her brother from an ice planet that has begun to orbit Earth. Evaporation is set for 2017.
