Creamer Goes Two-Wheeling with Millar
Lance Armstrong’s editor at Touchstone, Stacy Creamer, bought North American rights to cyclist David Millar’s Racing Through the Dark: Crash. Burn. Coming Clean. Coming Back. Millar is a British cyclist who’s won three stages of the Tour de France, and Creamer struck the deal with his U.K. publisher, Orion. Millar, who wrote the book himself, details his life in the world of professional cycling, as well as his experiences with performance-enhancing drugs—he returned to the sport in 2006 after a two-year ban (following an arrest) for doping. Touchstone is planning to release the book, which is already out in the U.K., in June 2012, to coincide with the next Tour de France, in which Millar will be competing with a team he formed, Garmin-Cervelo.

Thomas Nelson Ponies Up for Hyatt
Michael Hyatt, former Thomas Nelson CEO, and frequent blogger/speaker, sold Platform: Get Noticed in a Noisy World, to the Nashville house. Hyatt, who did not use an agent in the deal, currently serves as chairman of Nelson, which is in the process of being acquired by HarperCollins. Kristin Parrish took North American rights, and the book is set for May 2012. In the book Hyatt, who is known for being active on social media—Nelson called him a “professional blogger” with a daily readership over 50,000—will talk about the principles of self-promotion he developed that are now in use at Nelson.

Dystel Closes Cookbook Two-fer
Jane Dystel at Dystel & Goderich Literary Management sold world rights to a cookbook by Brian Boitano, What Would Brian Boitano Make?, to Lara Asher at Globe Pequot Press. Boitano took up cooking after he won a Gold Medal in figure skating in the 1988 Olympics and, in the book, which is based on the Food Network TV show of the same name, offers more than 100 recipes.

In a second deal, Dystel sold two more cookbooks by the authors of the bestselling Artisan Bread in 5 Minutes a Day, to Peter J. Wolverton at Thomas Dunne. For the first title, authors Jeff Hertzberg (who’s an M.D.) and Zoë François will update Artisan Bread; the second work will feature 100 new recipes. Thomas Dunne said there are over 500,000 copies of Artisan Bread in print since it was published in hardcover in 2007. Wolverton took U.S., Canadian and open market rights in the deal.

Hyperion Nabs Two From Webb
Elisabeth Dyssegaard closed a two-book deal with novelist Wendy Webb, for the Voice imprint at Hyperion. Dyssegaard pre-empted North American rights to Webb’s The Fate of Mercy Alban, along with an untitled novel. Jennifer Weltz at the Jean V. Naggar Agency represented Webb in the deal. Webb’s debut, The Tale of the Halcyon Crane, was published by Henry Holt in 2010 to acclaim, winning the 2011 Minnesota Book Award and being named an Indie Next Pick. Mercy Alban, Hyperion said, “features a grand mansion with secret passageways dating back to Prohibition, a lost manuscript, a legend of witches, and a love story.” The novel is scheduled for winter 2013, with the second book in the deal for winter 2014.

Briefs
Kelly Sonnack at the Andrea Brown Literary Agency closed a two-book deal with AmazonEncore, selling world rights to Raymond Bean’s new children’s book, Sweet Farts: Blown Away, as well as world English rights to his originally self-published Sweet Farts, which Bean released in 2008. Blown Away will be the third title in Bean’s Sweet Fart series; the second book, Sweet Farts: Rippin’ It Old School, was acquired by AmazonEncore in 2010 after impressive Kindle sales of Sweet Farts. Sonnack said the Sweet Farts books have consistently appeared in Amazon’s top 100 sellers in children’s books and, though it went formally unannounced, Sweet Farts: Rippin’ It Old School was the first children’s book Amazon Publishing released.