DEAL OF THE WEEK
S&S Re-signs Its ‘Mane’ Man
In a world rights agreement, Simon & Schuster’s Stuart Roberts bought The Gucci Mane Guide to Greatness. The book is a follow-up to Gucci Mane’s bestselling 2017 memoir, The Autobiography of Gucci Mane (also published by S&S). The platinum-selling rapper was represented by Robert Guinsler at Sterling Lord Literistic. Describing the book, which is slated for October 13, S&S said it is Gucci Mane’s “playbook for living your best life, offering an unprecedented look at his secrets to success, health, wealth, and self-improvement.”
FROM THE U.S.
Koppelman Has ‘Moment’ at Hachette
Brian Koppelman, cocreator of Showtime’s Billions, sold a nonfiction book titled The Moment to Mary Ann Naples at Hachette. The book is an extension of Koppelman’s podcast of the same name, Hachette said, and it uses “Koppelman’s personal experiences, along with those of his creative heroes and friends, to encourage the reader to take the same kinds of risks and leaps that they did.” Naples brokered the North American rights agreement with David Gernert at the Gernert Company, and Hachette executive editor Lauren Marino will edit the title.
Heltzel’s ‘Mother’ Joins Nightfire
For Tom Doherty Associates’ new horror imprint, Nightfire, Kelly O’Connor Lonesome won North American rights, at auction, to Anne Heltzel’s Just Like Mother in a two-book deal. Heltzel, a YA author, ghostwriter, and editor at Abrams Books, was represented by Elisabeth Weed at the Book Group. The novel (which marks the author’s adult debut under her own name) follows a woman whose life in New York City is turned upside down when her long-lost cousin—missing since their childhood—suddenly reappears. Lonesome elaborated that the novel is “a claustrophobic haunted house story, a chilling account of insidious gaslighting, and a suspenseful examination of toxic female friendships.” Mother is set for January 2022.
Kadakia Tackles ‘Life’ at Chronicle
At Chronicle Prism, Cara Bedick bought Lifepass by Payal Kadakia, founder of ClassPass, a fitness class app. Bedick brokered the North American rights agreement for the book with Mollie Glick at CAA. Explaining the title, Chronicle Prism said it “shares the mental strategies and unique goal-setting process Kadakia has developed to help readers home in on their feelings, screen out unnecessary distractions, and be the boss of their life based on their deepest desires.” Kadakia is writing the book with Jodi Lipper (coauthor of the lauded 2018 book The Myth of the Nice Girl).
Politician, and Son, Sell Addiction and Recovery Memoir
A memoir by Pennsylvania congresswoman Madeleine Dean and her son Harry Cunnane, Under Our Roof, was acquired by Derek Reed at Random House’s Convergent imprint. CAA oversaw the auction, at which Reed won North American rights. The book, Convergent said, is an “uplifting” account of Dean and Cunnane’s relationship and his battle with opioid addiction. The book is “the story of a national crisis suffered in the intimacy of so many homes, told with incredible candor through the dual perspectives of a mother rising in politics and a son living a double life, afraid of what will happen if his secret gets exposed.” Under Our Roof is set for spring 2021.
Putnam Gets ‘Saved’ by Landau
Alexis Landau sold her novel Those Who Are Saved to Tara Singh Carlson at Putnam. Landau (The Empire of the Senses) was represented by Alice Tasman at the Jean V. Naggar Literary Agency in the world rights deal. Describing the WWII-set book, Putnam said it “follows one mother’s impossible choice, and her search for her daughter against the odds.” Those Who Are Saved is set for spring 2021.
Gaydos’s ‘Pig Years’ Tracked by Knopf
Pig Years by Ellyn McCormack Gaydos was acquired, in an exclusive submission, by Tim O’Connell at Knopf. Peter Steinberg at Foundry Literary + Media represented Gaydos in the North American rights deal. Steinberg said that the nonfiction book charts the author’s “hardscrabble farmhand life in Vermont and eastern New York” raising pigs. Gaydos won the 2018 Richard J. Margolis Award in journalism while in the nonfiction MFA program at Columbia University. (She completed the degree, Steinberg noted, while maintaining her farm.) The book, Steinberg added, “is a record of economic hardships facing farmers in 2020—from unexpected bad seasons, to suicide, to drugs.” It’s also “about Ellyn’s perseverance, finding camaraderie and love and an unexpected desire to bring her own child into the world.”
Cook Goes ‘Viral’ at Putnam
Bestselling author Robin Cook’s medical thriller Viral was acquired by Margo Lipschultz at Putnam. The book was sold by Erica Spellman Silverman at Trident Media Group in a six-figure, North American rights, deal. Trident said the book is “about an unknown mosquito-borne disease with a lethal escalation due to climate change, and an investigation of the callous health-care system by the husband and father of two victims.”
Stewart, Sattin Role Play at Imprint
Imprint’s Weslie Turner won world rights at auction to Samuel Sattin and Christina “Steenz” Stewart’s Side Quest: A Visual History of Role Playing Games. Anjali Singh at Ayesha Panda Literary represented Stewart, who is a cartoonist, while Dara Hyde at Hill Nadell Literary Agency represented Sattin, who writes graphic novels. The book, Hyde said, is a graphic history of role-playing games that “traces their origins from ancient China and India, to Europe, all the way to the modern versions played today.”
Correction: An earlier version of this article misstated the title of Anne Heltzel's novel; it's called Just Like Mother, not Just Like a Mother.
