Hot Deals

Hot Deals
John F. Baker -- 2/5/01

$3M for the Mayor | Moving On Up | Big Fish, Little Fish
Inside Story | Short Takes


$3M for the MayorNew York Mayor Rudolph Giuliani didn't match former Senate rival Hillary Rodham Clinton when it came to a book advance, but the approximately $3 million he will take home from a deal he just made with Talk Miramax for two books is not to be sniffed at. The deal was signed at Gracie Mansion, the mayoral residence, by Brad Grey, chairman of Brillstein Grey Entertainment, as his agent, and Miramax chief Harvey Weinstein himself. Also present were Tina Brown,editor of Talk magazine, which will no doubt serialize the mayor's memoir, and Books editor-in-chief Jonathan Burnham. The memoir, to be published first, is expected for fall 2002 and will, said the principals, deal frankly with the mayor's family background, his career as a prosecuting attorney, his tenure as mayor, his Senate campaign, his cancer and "personal experiences," presumably his struggles between wife and lover. The second title will be a guide to leadership and management based on his experiences in public life. The mayor, who saw several major publishers before deciding on Miramax, is seeking a collaborator.

McGlothin: Self-
published promoter.
Moving On UpFrom self-publishing a novel in Dallas, his hometown, to a two-book sale to a New York publisher has been the recent route for Victor McGlothin. An indefatigable promoter of his first novel, Autumn Leaves, via book signings and personal appearances, he eventually won the attention of agent Elaine Koster, who sold the book, plus another called Secrets,to senior editor Jennifer Enderlin at St. Martin's Press. She bought only North American, and the ever-entrepreneurial author is hanging onto U.K., translation and audio. The first book, a study of faith and perseverance involving a group of Dallas friends, will appear early next year.

Big Fish, Little FishAMG/Renaissance, the bicoastal literary and talent agency, has acquired five-year-old Lukeman Literary Management; the latter's Noah Lukeman, along with agent Amye Dyer, will move over to AMG's New York offices, where they will act as consultants on the integration of their approximately 150 clients into the AMG list. Lukeman confirmed that there was a sale, but neither side would discuss financial details. He will work with AMG head J l Gotler for the next year, he said, "consulting on publishing strategy--I have no intention of becoming a movie agent." He said the move had nothing to do with the recent acquisition by William Morris of the Writers Shop--"I've always felt that the way to grow is to try new things."


Inside StoryIt's always good to celebrate a sale by someone close to you, and the folks at PW are thrilled by the news that nonfiction Forecasts editor Mark Rotella has sold a travel memoir, tentatively titled Stolen Figs, to Farrar, Straus & Giroux editor Paul Elie (himself a former PW editor). The preemptive deal, for world English, was made by agent Maria Massie at Witherspoon Associates, on the basis of an outline and sample chapter for a book on life then and now in Calabria, on the t of Italy, where Rotella's family came from and where some of them still live. The book is expected to appear as a North Point hardcover in spring 2003. No word yet on who'll review it....


Short TakesWhen Viking published My Year of Meats by documentary film makerRuth Ozeki three years ago, the novel won the prestigious Kiriyama Pacific Rim Book Prize and went on to become
Ozeki: Potat s
come next.
something of a cult favorite. Now v-p and editor-at-large Carole de Santi has paid a "substantial" six figures to agent Molly Friedrich at Aaron Priest for Ozeki's next book, also revolving around food--this time potat s--called All Over Creation. It will be on the list for spring 2002.... Al and Tipper Gore are doing a book on family issues, and their own family life, for Henry Holt president John Sterling, who has published them both before; he bought North American rights from Andrew Wylie for a book expected in fall 2002.... Top lawyer David Boies, who led the government charge against Microsoft and was last seen arguing the Gore cause in the Florida voting brouhaha, is to do a book covering his celebrated cases and clients for Jonathan Burnham at Talk Miramax, in a deal arranged by William Morris chairman Norman Brokaw and agent Mel Berger.... A book that takes a lighthearted look at the human corpse, Stiff: The Short and Curious Life of the Human Cadaver by Salon.com columnist Mary Roach,was won at auction by Jill Bialosky at Norton, in a sale conducted by Jay Mandel, just joining Morris as part of the Writers Shop sale....TV host and first novelist Brad Thor sold the first book in his three-book deal with Pocket for seven figures, as an outright movie buy, to Scott Steindorff of Stone Village Productions; the deal for the adventure thriller The Lions of Lucerne was put together by AngelaCheng at Writers and Artists on behalf of Heide Lange at Sanford Greenburger.
John Baker can be reached atjobaker@cahners.com.