Ballantine's Maureen O'Neal signed a two-book deal with Fox News's legal analyst (and Bill O'Reilly sparring partner) Lis Wiehl for a book called A Winning Case: How to Use the Skills of a Lawyer in the Trials of Life. World rights were signed with Todd Shuster at Zachary Shuster Harmsworth.... Jonathan Kozol, veteran critic of the U.S. school system, has signed with Crown's Doug Pepper for a prescriptive book on solutions to what he sees as the "catastrophic" situation of many American public schools. It was a hard/soft North American two-book deal with Tina Bennett at Janklow & Nesbit, for publication in fall 2004.... Simon Lipskar at Writers House sold world rights in a first novel called Broken for You by Stephanie Kallos, discovered by Lipskar's assistant, Daniel Lazar, via a short story in an online magazine. The winner, in a keen auction, was Lauren Wein of Grove/Atlantic.... Speaking of Writers House, chief Al Zuckerman is moving upstairs as chairman, handing over the running of the large and successful agency to Amy Berkower, his partner for 20 years and a highly visible agent in her own right; she will become president and CEO.
Hot Deals will not appear next week.
