Books left in limbo after Phoenix Books abruptly closed in April now have a new home. Heidegger’s Glasses and 51/50 have both been acquired by Counterpoint.
Agent Diana Finch sold Thaisa Frank's debut novel, Heidegger's Glasses, which was to be one the books Phoenix planned to promote heavily at BEA (and for which Phoenix sold foreign rights to in a number of countries). Publication is now set for November 2010. 51/50, a book about author Kristen McGuiness’s social experiment to find the ideal guy in 50 weeks, will be published under Counterpoint’s Soft Skull imprint in September 2010. Michael Broussard of ISB New Media made the deal.
While these two former Phoenix titles have landed at a new house, there are a number of titles still in limbo as a result of the closing of the California. Jason Anthony, an agent at Lippincott Massie McQuilkin, is, for example, about to start shopping Aris Winger’s PhD’s Do The Math, which he sold to Phoenix in October 2009. Winger, who teaches math at Emory & Henry College and has a PhD on the subject from Carnegie Mellon, pulls from sports, hip hop culture and politics in teaching math skills. Anthony likened the title to former actress Danica McKellar’s series of bestselling math books. Now, Anthony said, after adding some new material to the proposal, he’s going to begin re-shopping the book in July, this time expanding the potential buyers' pool to YA imprints.
