News
DEAL OF THE WEEK
DEALS
By Rachel Deahl■ Reacher Stays in the Family
Lee Child, the pen name of James Dover Grant, brought a new coauthor into the
fold with his latest contract. The four-book North American
rights agreement was brokered by Richard Pine and Kim
Witherspoon at Inkwell Management with Random House
president and publisher Gina Centrello; it will see Child
writing the next four installments in the bestselling Jack
Reacher series with his brother, author Andrew Grant (To o
Close to Home). The Sentinel, to be published under the
names Lee and Andrew Child, is set for fall 2020. Random
House said the Reacher series has more than 100 million
copies in print worldwide.■ S&S Welcomes Hoffmann’s ‘Children’
In a high-six-figure deal, Jeff Hoffmann sold his debut
novel, Other People’s Children, to Marysue Rucci at
Simon & Schuster. Harvey Klinger, who has an epony-
mous shingle, handled the world rights agreement for
Hoffmann; he said that in the novel, “an adoptive couple’s
agreement with the teenage biological mother of their
infant daughter goes horribly awry, sending everyone on
a brutal collision course while uncovering issues of class
and trust.” Hoffmann, who formerly worked in technology,
has an MFA from Columbia College Chicago.■ Gessen Tackles Trump for Riverhead
Journalist and National Book Award–winner Masha
Gessen sold a book about the Trump administration to
Rebecca Saletan at Riverhead. The North American rights
agreement for Surviving Autocracy was brokered by Elyse
Cheney at the Cheney Agency. Riverhead said the book is
a “galvanizing analysis of the destruction the Trump admin-
istration has waged on our institutions, the cultural norms
we hoped would save us, and our very sense of identity.”
The book, set for a June 2020 release, is expanded from
an essay Gessen wrote immediately after Trump’s election,
titled “Autocracy: Rules for Survival,” that went viral.■ Sebastian’s ‘Shadows’ Fall on Ace
After an auction, Ace’s Anne Sowards won North American
rights to the debut adult novel by bestselling YA author
Laura Sebastian. Half Sick of Shadows is, Ace said, “a femi-
nist reimagining of the Arthurian legend.” In it, a woman
named Elaine of Shalott “rejects the future her visions
prophesize and transforms the story of King Arthur we’ve
come to know.” John Cusick at Folio Literary Management© SIGRIDESTRADA© TA NYASAZANSKYChildHoffmannGessenSebastianWWW.PUBLISHERSWEEKLY.COM 11there are customers who won’t spend
money on a trade book collection, but
if they see it on MU, maybe they’ll buy
the book. It’s great for raising aware-
ness and providing people with back-
ground on events. That said, we’ve
never seen a problem with digital sales
cannibalizing print sales.
The other thing about digital: we’rededicated to making Marvel available
in whatever way readers want to con-
sume it. I read a lot on my iPad because
I don’t want 200 [cardboard storage]
longboxes. It’s a perfect example of
letting people have the same Marvel
reading experience even if they don’t
have room to store so many comics.
What’s ahead for 2020?
Two things: First is the Scholastic
licensed books, which we’re really
excited about. [In 2019 Marvel and
Scholastic announced a multiyear deal
for Scholastic to create a series of
middle grade prose novels based on
Marvel characters. The first titles will
appear in 2020.] Also, we’re experi-
menting with collecting Jonathan
Hickman’s Dawn of X titles in a couple
of different ways. Because the story
goes across multiple titles, we have a
trade collecting all #1 issues, then all
#2s, across six different stories. That’s
a different way to collect books.
We also have traditional linear series,all the X titles forming bigger interlock-
ing titles. We want to give readers
options about how they process it.
—Rob SalkowitzCorrection
The wrong photo was used for Jessica
Kim, author of Stand Up, Yumi Chung!,
in the Winter Institute supplement that
appeared in the January 13 issue. The
correct photo has been placed in the
online edition of the magazine.Rob Salkowitz is an author, educator, and
consultant on the business of pop culture.