Vince Flynn to Co-Write New Series with Brian Haig

Thriller writer Vince Flynn, author of Pursuit of Honor and other titles, has signed a two-book deal with Atria and Pocket, for a new series featuring a New York City anti-terror operation that Flynn will co-write with retired writer and U.S. Army lieutenant colonel Brian Haig. Flynn, whose latest novel, American Assassin, Atria will publish on October 12, said the series covers a story he has "wanted to tell for many years.... Teaming up with Brian Haig will afford me the opportunity to pursue this without keeping readers waiting for my next Mitch Rapp novel."

Deals: Week of 8/2/10

Deals: Week of 7/26/10

Deals: Week of 7/19/10

Deals: Week of 7/5/2010

Ripken Steps to the (Children's Book) Plate

Disney Book Group has signed a deal with Major League Baseball Hall of Famer Cal Ripken Jr. for a middle-grade baseball series; Baltimore Sun, sportswriter Kevin Cowherd will coauthor. The retired Baltimore Oriole's first book, Hothead, about a third baseman with a problematic temper, will be published by Disney-Hyperion in winter 2011, with additional books arriving yearly. Disney-Hyperion editorial director Stephanie Owens Lurie did the deal for world rights with Ian Kleinert of Objective Entertainment.

Macmillan Signs Rob Lowe Memoir

Macmillan is just now announcing an acquisition it made in the fall of 2009, when Steve Rubin, president and publisher of Henry Holt, bought Rob Lowe's memoir, Stories I Only Tell My Friends. The publisher said the manuscript came in as a "confidential submission" because Lowe is writing the book himself and all parties wanted to keep the work under wraps until the first chapters had come together. The title is now slated for May 2011, with Holt's Gillian Blake editing.

Deals: Week of 6/28/10

June 24: Rights Report

This week, Alvina Ling at Little, Brown buys the new YA novel from Laini Taylor,
Virginia Duncan at Greenwillow Books gets North American rights to Counting Cars by Christina Meredith, Jocelyn Davies at Razorbill acquires Crush Control, a new novel by Jennifer Jabaley, and Jon Anderson of Simon & Schuster has bought A ValueTales Treasury: Stories for Growing Good People by Spencer Johnson, M.D.

Sterling, Hearst Renew Agreement

Hearst Magazines and Sterling Publishing have renewed their long-term trademark licensing agreement granting Sterling the rights to create and publish books under the Hearst Books imprint with Hearst Magazines' trademarks worldwide. Under the deal, Sterling has produced a number of lifestyle and cookbooks based on Hearst's magazines.

Deals: Week of 6/21/10

HC Acquires Brit's Debut for Rumored Seven Figures

A heated auction in the UK for two books by Brit Steven J. Watson, including his debut Before I Go to Sleep, has led to a major pre-empt in the States by HarperCollins. Claire Wachtel and Jonathan Burnham have paid a rumored $1 million for Sleep, along with another book by Watson, Nine Lives.

Deals: Week of 6/14/10

Colfer Pens First Adult Novel

Jane Morpeth and Marion Donaldson at Headline in London, and Peter Mayer at Overlook Press in New York, have bought Eoin Colfer's first independent adult novel, in deals negotiated by Sophie Hicks at Ed Victor Ltd. for an undisclosed sum. Plugged is set in New Jersey and is a classic noir novel which will be published in 2011.

Little, Brown Launching 'Glee' Publishing Program

Calling all gleeks: Starting this fall, Little, Brown Books for Young Readers will launch a publishing program based on the hit Fox TV show about a high school glee club, starting with The Beginning, a paperback original prequel.

Regal Has Wooden Tribute

Regal, the publishing imprint of Gospel Light, plans to release The Greatest Coach Ever: Timeless Wisdom and Insights of John Wooden this July after originally planning to publish the title in the fall. The UCLA coach died over the weekend.

AmazonEncore Announces Fall List

Following an ambitious summer list, Amazon's publishing imprint, AmazonEncore, has announced an equally enterprising fall list, including a humorous book for kids written by a fourth-grade teacher, and a women's fiction title originally published on Kindle.

Big Sales for Yale's Little Books

In 2005, Yale University Press published its first “little history/little book,” E.H. Gombrich’s A Little History of the World, which broke down a large subject into 40 chapters that are just as readable for children as adults. Now Yale is trying to replicate that success with its second "Clittle book," linguist David Crystal's A Little Book of Language, with stylized black-and-white illustrations by Jean-Manuel Duvivier.

St. Martin's Preempts Book About BP

St. Martin's Michael Flamini has journalist preempted Mike Magner's new book on currently embattled oil giant British Petroleum in a major six-figure deal. Ronald Goldfrab at Goldfarb & Associates brokered the deal for Magner, who's been researching BP for a number of years, focusing on allegations that the company has been involved in various cases of pollution.