The author of the bestselling YA novel Frankly in Love, David Yoon, has a speculative thriller that is generating major buzz in the run-up to next week's Frankfurt Book Fair. His adult debut, Version Zero, sold to G.P. Putnam's Sons for a sum rumored to be in the mid-six-figure range, after an eight-editor auction.
Mark Tavani at Putnam nabbed North American rights in the deal from agent Josh Getzler at HSG Agency, who represented Yoon (the husband of bestselling, and National Book Award-nominated, YA author Nicola Yoon). Getzler said he pitched the novel as "the first great millennial thriller" and a mashup of John Green and Fight Club. It follows three twentysomethings who team up with a reclusive tech genius to bring down a host of tech companies doing suspect things with their users identities.
Version Zero is also the product of a partnership with Alloy Entertainment, a packager predominantly known for its work on titles in the YA and middle grade genres. (Though not Alloy's first foray into adult books, Yoon's novel is one of only a handful of recent adult projects the company has worked on.) Getzler sold the book on behalf of Joelle Hobeika and Josh Bank at Alloy.
Getzler said Version Zero immediately created a stir among editors, noting that he sent the manuscript out mere hours before Yoon's September-published Frankly in Love,which is also at Putnam, hit the New York Times bestseller list. While Alloy, which is affiliated with Warner Bros. Television, is handling dramatic rights for Version Zero, HSG is overseeing foreign rights for the novel. On that front, Getzler said, there has been "a lot of action." At press time, a sale had just closed in Russia, with an auction underway in Italy.
