Lynne Cheney, the wife of vice-president Dick Cheney, already has several books to her credit, including, most recently, a bestselling children's book called America: A Patriotic Primer, and now her publisher for that, S&S Books for Young Readers, has signed her to another. A Is for Abigail Adams is an alphabet book about the role of women in American history, and was signed with agent Bob Barnett. It's set for publication next fall.... In another chip-off-the-old-block story, Nick Sagan, son of the late bestselling astronomer/author Carl, has made a three-book deal for a series called the Idlewild Trilogy with Jennifer Hershey at Putnam; she won a five-day auction for North American rights from agents Matthew Guma and Richard Pine at Arthur Pine Associates. Set 75 years from now, it's about a group of human clones whose survival holds the key to the future of the race.... John Jeremiah Sullivan, who edits the book section at Harper's magazine, now has his own book. His agent, Jin Auh at the Wylie agency, sold an untitled memoir involving his sportswriter father and the world of thoroughbred racing, to Lorin Stein at FSG.... Rick Wolff at Warner Business Books made a strong six-figure preempt for Paths to Persuasion, a guide to successful business pitches, by consultants Gary Williams and Robert Miller. Daniel Greenberg at James Levine Communications made the sale.... We were misinformed about the agent in the sale of The Calligrapher to Houghton Mifflin in last week's column; it was, in fact, Michael Carlisle and Emma Parry at Carlisle & Company who made it.