DEAL OF THE WEEK
Mariner Joins Stevenson’s ‘Family’
In a six-figure, two-book North American rights deal, Mariner Books’ Katherine Nintzel bought Benjamin Stevenson’s Everyone in My Family Has Killed Someone. Mariner said the novel, acquired at a six-way auction, is a “blend of classic and modern murder mystery” that is “Knives Out and Clue meet Agatha Christie and The Thursday Murder Club.” Stevenson is an Australian comedian, and Nintzel brokered the agreement with Penguin Random House Australia. The book, which is set for January 2023, has also been optioned for a limited series adaptation by HBO.
Ronson Takes Grand Central to ‘Infinity’
Music producer Mark Ronson sold the memoir 93 ’Til Infinty to Grand Central Publishing in a North American rights deal. Colin Dickerman acquired the book, slated for 2023, from David Kuhn and Nate Muscato at Aevitas Creative Management. Ronson has worn many hats in a long career in the music industry, with a wealth of songwriter and producer credits to his name, and has worked with A-list performers including Adele and Paul McCartney. The publisher said the book focuses on the early days of his career DJing in New York City’s downtown hip-hop scene in the 1990s. It “captures the music, characters, escapades, and energy of his DJ days, inviting readers into the tribe of creatives and revelers who came alive when the sun went down.”
Sourcebooks Strikes Winstead’s ‘Hour’
Shana Drehs at Sourcebooks bought Ashley Winstead’s Midnight Is the Darkest Hour for six figures. Winstead (In My Dreams I Hold a Knife) was represented in the two-book deal by Melissa Edwards at Stonesong. Sourcebooks said the thriller follows “a good preacher’s daughter and a man with a dark reputation as they do whatever it takes to protect their Louisiana bayou town from evil—not the horrors rumored to dwell in the swamp, but the real evil that walks among them.” Midnight Is the Darkest Hour is slated for summer 2023.
Guanzon’s Debut Goes to HarperCollins
For six figures, Harper Voyager’s Julia Elliott inked Thea Guanzon to a three-book deal, at auction, for her debut trilogy, the Hurricane Wars. The series, the publisher said, is “an enemies-to-lovers fantasy romance set in a Southeast Asian–inspired world of magic, airships, and strange beasts.” Elliott took world rights to the titles from Thao Le at the Sandra Dijkstra Literary Agency via Natasha Bardon at Harper Voyager UK. The first book under contract is set for fall 2023.
Flatiron Gets ‘Erased’ by Tubbs
Bryn Clark at Flatiron books bought North American rights to Erased by Anna Malaika Tubbs. Tubbs’s debut, The Three Mothers, was named one of the best books of 2021 by both Amazon and NPR, and Erased, Flatiron said, is “an examination of and reckoning with the history of patriarchy in America.” The book aims to “provide a common understanding and shared language for thinking about patriarchy and all the ways in which it is baked into the fabric of our nation.” Julia Kardon at HG Literary represented Tubbs in the two-book deal.
Prism Brings Nafousi’s ‘Manifest’ to U.S.
For Chronicle Prism, Cara Bedick nabbed North American rights to Manifest: 7 Steps to Living Your Best Life, a U.K. bestseller by self-development coach Roxie Nafousi. Published in the U.K. in January, the book was touted by Vogue UK as “the millennial answer to The Secret” and is described by Chronicle as an introduction to “the self-development practice of manifesting to cultivate self-love and live your best life.” Jane Kirby at Penguin Random House UK handled the sale for Nafousi, and the book is set for a fall release.
