Since joining Flatiron Books, Bob Miller’s new imprint at Macmillan, senior editor Whitney Frick has been aggressively trying to fill various buckets. With some recent acquisitions, the former Random House editor has been going after titles in three categories which Flatiron had little to no presence: health and wellness; parenting and psychology; and business.
A spokesperson for Flatiron said all three categories will be “major areas of focus” for the imprint in the future, and that, in general, Frick has been busy adding to the overall list.
Speaking to her busyness, Frick has closed on four books recently. The first, An American Dog in London, is by Danny Hakim, the European economic correspondent for the New York Times; Frick took world English rights to the memoir from ICM Partners agent Esther Newberg. In the book, Hakim chronicles his move to England with his family’s golden retriever puppy. Flatiron said the book is “part memoir, part cultural study, and part comedy of manners.”
Another of Frick’s acquisitions is Julia Ross’s The Craving Cure (in the health and wellness category), in which the food-addiction expert and bestselling author examines how, mentally, we can conquer cravings by focusing on five amino acid supplements. The book is subtitled Activate Your Natural Appetite Control and Drop the Sugars, the Starches—and the Weight, and Frick took world rights from Linda Loewenthal at the David Black Agency.
From agent Richard Pine at Inkwell Management, Frick nabbed North American rights to Jay Samit’s Disruption Decoded, a business title by the former advisor to the White House Initiative for Education and Technology. The book, subtitled How Successful Entrepreneurs are Transforming Their Lives, Their Businesses, and the World, will, Flatiron explained, outline a “four-step process [for those] looking to transform their careers, industries, or the world around them.”
Another health and wellness entry is Gail Saltz’s Genius, which Frick bought world rights to from Trena Keating at Union Literary. Saltz, an M.D., is the health expert for the Today Show, and the book will build on a popular series of events she did at the 92nd Street Y called “Strength of Mind,” showing, ultimately, how “parents, educators, colleagues, and society can help individuals make the most of their natural aptitudes and inclinations.” The book is subtitled Eccentricity, Peculiarity, Brilliance and Cultivating Talent.
