McGinnis Closes Double at Katherine Tegen
Ben Rosenthal at Katherine Tegen Books took North American rights, for six figures, to two new books by Mindy McGinnis (A Madness So Discreet). The first is called Phantom Heart, and the second, a contemporary YA novel, is currently untitled. The publisher said Phantom Heart, set for fall 2017, is a psychological thriller about a good girl who falls for a “local burnout.” After the heroine discovers she had a twin sister who died, she begins to realize that “her dead twin is trying to take back the life she never had, creating a dark, split-personality love triangle where no one’s sure what’s real or imagined.” McGinnis was represented by Adriann Ranta at Foundry Literary + Media.
SMP Gets “Brilliant” with WNYC’s Zomorodi
In a world rights deal, Michael Flamini at St. Martin’s Press bought Manoush Zomorodi’s Bored and Brilliant: Rediscovering the Lost Art of Spacing Out. Zomorodi hosts WNYC’s technology-focused podcast Note to Self, and the book, set for fall 2017, explores, SMP said, “boredom’s historical bad rap, what actually happens in our brains when we get bored, and how boredom can ignite original thinking.” Stuart Krichevsky and Ross Harris at Stuart Krichevsky Literary Agency brokered the sale for Zomorodi.
Bloomsbury Takes Clune’s ‘How to Leave’
In a world English rights deal, Lea Beresford bought How to Leave, Erin Clune’s memoir, at auction. The book, Bloomsbury said, is an “uproarious” and “tongue-in-cheek” guide to “leaving the cool city in which you ‘found’ yourself and surviving somewhere far more ordinary.” Foundry Literary + Media’s Yfat Reiss Gendell represented Clune in the deal.
Indie Phenom Ashley to SMP
Bestselling indie author Kristen Ashley sold two books in a new erotic romance series to Rose Hilliard at St. Martin’s Press. The world rights deal, which Emily Sylvan Kim at Prospect Agency brokered, will launch a series called the Honey. The first book, The Deep End, will be released in trade paperback in March 2017. This series will mark Ashley’s first foray into erotic romance; according to SMP, Ashley, who has self-published a number of romance titles, has sold more than two million books to date.
Wilson Inks Triple at Harlequin
Harlequin’s Giselle Regus took world rights to a new trilogy by Teri Wilson. The Drake Diamonds series follows three siblings who, Harlequin explained, run a “Tiffany-style jewelry empire” and find love in “the most unexpected of places.” The first Drake Diamond book is set for January 2017. Elizabeth Winick Rubinstein at McIntosh & Otis represented Wilson, who has written more than 12 books, including Unleashing Mr. Darcy, which was adapted into a 2016 TV movie by the Hallmark Channel.
Briefs
Pam Krauss, for her eponymous imprint at Avery, took U.S. and Canadian rights to Nadine Redzepi’s currently untitled debut cookbook. The author is the wife of René Redzepi, founder of the world-renowned Danish restaurant Noma, and the book, according to Avery, will deliver “clean, modern, sophisticated” recipes that she learned and honed at Noma, as well as in her home kitchen. Kimberly Witherspoon at Inkwell Management represented Redzepi.