12 PUBLISHERS WEEKLY ■ MARCH 7, 2016
■ Soho Ties Down von
Ziegesar, Gagnon
Daniel Ehrenhaft at Soho Teen closed a
doubleheader last week. In the first deal,
he took world rights to Gossip Girl–
author Cecily von Ziegesar’s YA novel
Dark Horses. Eric Brown
at the law firm Franklin,
Weinrib, Rudell & Vassallo
brokered the sale on behalf
of von Ziegesar who,
Ehrenhaft said, pitched the book as a cross
between “Black Beauty and The Breakfast
Club.” The novel follows the relationship
that develops between an unruly teenage
girl and a failed racehorse, after the two
meet at an equine therapy camp. Rights
People has been handling foreign sales
for the book on behalf of Soho, and has
sold the novel in a number of territories,
including France and Germany. Dark
Horses is slated for a September release.
In the second deal, Ehrenhaft nabbed
world English rights to a YA noir by
Michelle Gagnon called Unearthly Things.
A retelling of Jane Eyre with what Ehrenhaft
described as a “
supernatural twist,” the book is set
in the world of San
Francisco’s debutante
society and follows an
orphaned teenager beginning a new life
with a mysterious adoptive family.
Gagnon was represented by Stephanie
Kip Rostan at Levine Greenberg Rostan
Literary, and the book is scheduled for
April 2017.
■ HGTV Rehabbers Crash
TarcherPerigee
The stars of HGTV’s Flip or Flop, Tarek
and Christina El Moussa, sold a book
called Flip Your Life to Marian Lizzi at
TarcherPerigee in a six-figure deal. Lizzi
took North American rights to the book,
at auction, from agent Todd Shuster at
Zachary Shuster Harmsworth and lawyer
Roger Behle at Foley Bezek Behle &
Curtis. The book, the PRH imprint said,
will feature stories and “hard-won
insights” from the couple’s work as house
flippers, touching on how they reinvented
themselves professionally after the
housing market crashed. It will also delve
into Tarek’s diagnosis of, and recovery
from, cancer. The book is set for spring
2017, timed to coincide with the premiere
of the seventh season of the couple’s show.
■ Raasch Brings New YA to
Balzer + Bray
Sara Raasch (Snow like Ashes series)
sold world English rights to a currently
untitled YA fantasy duology to Kristin
Daly at Balzer + Bray. Mackenzie Brady
Watson at New Leaf Literary represented
Raasch and said the epic series is “inspired
by the Spanish Inquisition and the golden
age of piracy.” She explained that it fol-
lows three characters: “a woman seeking
justice, a tortured pirate looking for
redemption, and an ambitious prince out
for power.”
■ Greenwillow Preempts Pic
Book Series
Virginia Duncan at Greenwillow Books
preempted world rights, in a two-book
deal, to a picture book
series called Luna and the
Scientific Method! by
Kimberly Derting and
Shelli Johannes-Wells.
The first book is set for fall
2017. Laura Rennert at
Andrea Brown Literary
represented Derting, and
Lara Perkins, also at
Andrea Brown, represented Johannes-
Wells. Rennert said the series is about a
“science-loving, question-asking girl”
who discovers that “scientific inquiry... can
lead to a lot of fun and adventure.” Derting
(the Body Finder series) and Johannes-
Wells (who uses the pseudonym S.R.
Johannes and is the author of the Nature of
Grace series) will be writing the series
together; an illustrator for the books has
yet to be chosen.
Deals
Ziegesar
Gagnon
Derting
Johannes-Wells
By Rachel Deahl
©a
u
g
ustasa
g
ne
ll
i
Samhain to
Close
Christina Brashear,
publisher of
Samhain Pub-
lishing, a mostly
digital romance
publisher, said
the company will
begin to shut
down its opera-
tions due to a
steady decline in
e-book sales.
Layoffs at
Berkley
The Penguin
Random House
unit confirmed
that a number of
positions were
cut, though it
declined to provide
details. This
latest round of
layoffs at the mass
market division,
which affected
four editors plus
support staff, is
likely a reaction to
the steady decline
in the sales of
mass market
paperbacks.
New s B r i e f s Feature: Business Books Issue: May 16 Deadline: Mar. 28 For this feature, we are especially interested in 2016 titles that explore work-life balance. Sidebar pitches on other topics relating to business are welcome. New titles only, please; no reprints. Email pitches and links to art- work to features@publishersweekly.com by Mar. 28 and put “Call for Info: Business Books” in the subject line.
Call for
Information
