Things are finally slowing down a little for the summer, but there have still been plenty of deals and news to keep June and July satisfying and interesting.
NEW FOREIGN RIGHTS DEALS!
Fiction
The first translation deal for James Buchan’s mysterious new novel, THE GATE OF AIR, is in Bulgaria to Ednorog, via the Nurnberg Agency, Sofia. This is the first time I’ve ever seen Bulgarian rights sell ahead of any other European language, and hopefully this publisher’s enthusiasm will remind other European publishers that James Buchan’s intriguing ghost story has appeal beyond Britain. The Maclehose Press/Quercus publishes THE GATE OF AIR in hardcover on September 4th.
Simon Mawer’s powerful new novel, THE GLASS ROOM, is now sold in the Czech Republic to Kniha Zlin via the Nurnberg Agency, Prague. The author is very pleased about this deal since the novel mostly takes place in Czechoslovakia, from the 1930s to the present. Portuguese rights were already pre-empted by Civilizacao, Dutch rights pre-empted by Ambo Anthos, and Italian rights sold at auction to Neri Pozza. Little, Brown will publish THE GLASS ROOM in the UK in January 2009.
Mike Gayle’s new novel, THE LIFE AND SOUL OF THE PARTY, is now sold in Poland to Sonia Draga (via Aleksandra Matuzsak, Andrew Nurnberg Agency Warsaw). Hodder publishes on August 21st, and it looks to be one of Mike Gayle’s best, following the ups and downs of three London couples across a year of parties. There’s a strong line-up of publicity and it’s already ranked as a top-selling fiction title on Amazon. Meanwhile, Mike Gayle’s previous novel, WISH YOU WERE HERE, is on the Nielsen bestseller list in paperback and has brought him fresh praise: “A feel-good read with lots of laughs.’ (Woman)
“This has the makings of another Mike Gayle classic . . . this is spot on, easy beach read. Just add sangria.” (Independent )
“As you’d expect from Gayle, the laughs flow thick and fast, making this a top match for your sunny holiday spirits.” (Glamour )
Mike Gayle’s primary agent, Simon Trewin, just did a new UK deal with Hodder for two new novels.
Non-fiction
Italian rights to Tom Cox’s hilarious memoir of his life with cats, UNDER THE PAW, are sold to Rizzoli in a pre-empt! In May I reported a German pre-empt by Ullstein. Simon and Schuster’s recently published UK hardcover is selling well; the #1 selling pet book on Amazon!
Danny Wallace’s new book, FRIENDS LIKE THESE, is now sold in Germany to Droemer and now also in Korea to Mimumsa! Previously, US rights sold to Little, Brown and Swedish rights to Forum. Ebury’s UK edition is now published and is an instant bestseller, hitting the Nielsen list at #13 with over 6000 copies sold in just the first week, and FRIENDS LIKE THESE was as high as #25 on Amazon where there is posted a fun promotional video. Danny Wallace has been all over the press, radio, and tv here in the UK.
PETITE ANGLAISE by Catherine Sanderson is now sold in Brazil to Editora Globo, via Tassy Barham who is just back from the FLIP festival in Parati, Brazil. This is the ninth translation deal for PETITE ANGLAISE! Penguin published in the UK with excellent reviews and Spiegel & Grau/Doubleday just published the US edition. You can read more about PETITE ANGLAISE and Catherine’s life as a young writer, mother, and newlywed in Paris on her wonderful and internationally famous blog.
Tassy Barham has also negotiated a Brazilian pre-empt with Record for WHY US?: HOW SCIENCE REDISCOVERED THE MYSTERY OF OURSELVES by James Le Fanu! Civilizacao already pre-empted WHY US? for Portugal. HarperCollins/UK and Pantheon/US will publish in February 2009.
My assistant, Lettie, has negotiated a great Portuguese deal for Paul McKenna! Lua de Papel will launch Paul McKenna in Portugal with his two biggest bestsellers: CHANGE YOUR LIFE IN 7 DAYS and I CAN MAKE YOU THIN. Paul McKenna’s books are now being published in 24 languages, and his popularity is building in the US. Incredibly, he has never before been published in Spanish, but now with Portugal on board, I’m sure it won’t be long. His newest book, I CAN MAKE YOU RICH, was a bestseller in hardcover last year and is now again on the UK bestseller list in paperback. We recently sold three books in Japan (via Hamish Macaskill/The English Agency). You can read more about all of Paul McKenna’s books at his website here.
We’re also beginning to sell translation rights to two major new self-help books by Paul McKenna’s mentor, Richard Bandler, who is also the co-founder of NLP (Neuro-Linguistic Programming). NLP is one of the most important and successful personal development models of all time and Richard Bandler’s work is taught in educational systems, universities, hospitals and businesses across the globe. GET THE LIFE YOU WANT and RICHARD BANDLER’S GUIDE TO TRANCE-FORMATION are the first new books written by Richard Bandler in over ten years and will be the first of his books to be published by a major publisher. Richard Bandler is represented by Robert Kirby of United Agents who sold UK rights to HarperCollins. GET THE LIFE YOU WANT will be published in January 2009, followed by RICHARD BANDLER’S GUIDE TO TRANCE-FORMATION . Health Communications will publish both books in the USA (the same publisher as the hugely successful “Chicken Soup for the Soul” books). So far translation deals are done in Italy and Romania.
NEW U.S. DEALS!
Caroline Dawnay has accepted a pre-empt from Colin Dickerman of Bloomsbury USA for North American rights to Susie Boyt’s enchanting new book, MY JUDY GARLAND LIFE. This is an irresistible and unique mixture of memoir, biography, cultural analysis, and hero worship. The opposite of a “misery memoir”, it’s a “cheer memoir” that will speak to anyone who’s nursed an obsession or ever held a candle to a star. Virago/Little, Brown will publish in the UK in October 2008. Even though MY JUDY GARLAND LIFE is Susie Boyt’s first book of non-fiction (she’s written four acclaimed novels), Waterstone’s Fiction marketing planner, Rodney Troubridge picked it in The Bookseller as his top choice of October books, “As someone completely allergic to The Wizard of Oz I was pleasantly surprised by how much I enjoyed Susie Boyt’s part fan-letter, part biographical tribute, MY JUDY GARLAND LIFE. It manages to avoid sentimentality and keeps a delightful charm throughout. Her own unusual family (the Freuds no less) provide some good background too.” This confirms that you don’t need to be a fan of Judy Garland yourself to delight in Susie Boyt’s enchanting book!
Jane Borodale’s debut novel, THE BOOK OF FIRES, which Pat Kavanagh recently sold to Harper Press/UK (see my previous posting about this below) is now sold in the US by Zoe Pagamenta to Viking in a pre-empt! It is the first acquisition by editor Pam Dorman for her new imprint, Pam Dorman Books. As reported in a recent New York Observer article, Pam Dorman has a “rare intuition for spotting debut novels of a certain character that could sell millions of copies.” She was the US editor to acquire Bridget Jones’s Diary and she followed that success with Sue Monk Kidd’s The Secret Life of Bees, Kim Edwards’ The Memory Keeper’s Daughter, and Jacquelyn Mitchard’s The Deep End of the Ocean.” I’m sure Jane Borodale will be well published on both sides of the Atlantic!
GREAT REVIEWS and AWARD!
Sylvia Brownrigg’s beautiful new novel, MORALITY TALE, is now published by Picador. The review in the Saturday Guardian, “Love in three dimensions”, articulates many of the same thoughts I had when I read the manuscript last summer. In the beginning you may think it’s a familiar story of the love triangle and the confession of an adulterous wife, but Sylvia Brownrigg brilliantly turns it into a more clever, surprising, and illuminating tale of marriage and betrayal than you may have ever read before. I’m even more delighted with the review in The Observer (July 13th): “Reading this extraordinary book is like stirring boiling soup: the narrative has an obsessive, repetitive quality. And yet it is unpredictable, driven by uncomfortable moral challenges. Brownrigg is especially acute about living in the present, an escapist art, like falling in love, shelving all thoughts of tomorrow and yesterday.” There’s also praise in Waterstone’s Book Quarterly: “Will appeal to fans of Anne Tyler, and those who appreciate more thoughtful, philosophical prose,” and Sainsbury’s Magazine chose MORALITY TALE as one of the “Best beach reads”: “A brilliant, witty evocation of marriage.” I’ve already written about the great US reviews in a recent posting below. All translation rights are still available.
Dannie Abse’s THE PRESENCE has won the prestigious Wales Book of Year Award! You can read the Guardian’s article about the award here. Several months after the death of Dannie’s wife, Joan, in a car accident, he began to write a diary which is both a record of present grief and a portrait of a marriage which lasted more than fifty years. THE PRESENCE, published in hardcover by Hutchinson last summer, was also shortlisted for the PEN/Ackerley Prize. Vintage will do a beautiful paperback edition in October (cover pictured above). I first became aware of this astonishing gem of a book last week when a Korean publisher offered for the Korean translation rights (via the Shin Won Agency in Seoul). Dannie Abse’s primary agent, Robert Kirby, has now given me an impressive set of press with praise from Boyd Tonkin, The Independent: “You will never read a stronger, pithier expression of what it is like to live under ‘the benign tyranny of a most loved ghost.’”
The Sunday Times: “A remarkable and tender document.”
Carol Ann Duffy, Daily Telegraph: “A fragment of autobiography written from the most private part of a poet’s heart, with a pen dipped in blood and tears. That it transcends this to become both elegiac and celebratory, to inhabit both the suffered present and the beloved past, places it almost beyond the scope of routine criticism.”
and Owen Sheers, Independent on Sunday: “A surprisingly joyful and compelling book…Imbued with all the best qualities of what it means to be human and in love.”
Since I have not yet mentioned or sent THE PRESENCE to any foreign publishers, I intend to feature it when everyone returns from summer holidays in September.
Looking forward to seeing many United Agents’ authors at the Edinburgh Book Festival, and to as many pages of reading and miles of walking as I can fit into August in Scotland and Wales.
