DEAL OF THE WEEK
DEALS
By Rachel Deahl■ Koontz Finds a New Home at Amazon
Bestselling author Dean Koontz inked a multibook deal with Amazon Publishing’s
Thomas & Mercer imprint to write five standalones. As part of the deal, he will
also pen a collection of six short thrillers for Amazon Original Short Stories. Grace
Doyle at Thomas & Mercer took North American rights to the standalones, while
Julia Sommerfeld at Amazon Original Stories took world
English rights to the thriller collection. This deal, for an
undisclosed sum, follows a string of seven-figure agree-
ments that Amazon Publishing has recently struck with
major bestsellers, including Patricia Cornwell, Sylvia Day,
Barry Eisler, and T.R. Ragan, who all have multibook agree-
ments. Richard Pine and Kimberly Witherspoon at Inkwell
Management, along with Richard Heller at Frankfurt Kurnit
Klein & Selz, represented Koontz, whose most recent book
was published by Bantam.■ Lippman Re-ups at Morrow for
Seven Figures
Laura Lippman inked a seven-figure, five-book agreement
with William Morrow. The deal, for North American rights,
will see her pen three novels, a short story collection, and a
personal essay collection. Lippman’s longtime editor Carrie
Feron brokered the agreement with Vicky Bijur, who has
an eponymous shingle. In a release about the agreement,
Morrow said that the author, a reporter turned novelist who
is best known for her popular Tess Monaghan series, has
“won more awards than almost any living crime writer.” The essay collection in the
deal, the publisher also noted, will be Lippman’s first nonfiction book.■ Barnett, Robinson Do
‘20’ for Candlewick
For Candlewick, Liz Bicknell nabbed
world rights to Mac Barnett’s picture
book 20 Questions. The book, Candle-
wick said, will present 20 “fanciful,
answerless questions.” Caldecott
Honoree Christian Robinson is illus-
trating the title, which is set for spring- Both Bennett and Robinson
were represented by Steven Malk at Writers House.
■ Rapinoe Scores Double at Penguin
World Cup–winning hero Megan Rapinoe signed a two-book, world rights deal
at Penguin to write an adult title and a middle grade one. The co-captain of the
U.S. women’s soccer team will focus on social justice issues in both books, which
do not yet have titles. The adult book is set for fall 2020, while the MG title does©^ DOUGLASSONDERS©^ LESLEY^
UNRUH©^ CARSON
ELLIS©^ ANASTASIIA^
SAPONKoontzLippmanBarnett Robinson8 PUBLISHERS WEEKLY ■ JULY 29, 2019
News
Moore of Ahoy Comics are both looking
to transform how comics are published.
TKO produces “elevated genre works,”
Girner said, and bypasses the book
trade and direct market distribution,
selling its titles directly to consumers
and direct market retailers. But TKO
also offers a “binge” model: each of its
initial series are available immediately
in all formats—periodicals, digital, or
trade paperback.
Panelist Tyler Chin-Tanner, publisher
of A Wave Blue Press, is offering a
model that combines the direct market
release of periodicals with book collec-
tions. AWBP was founded in 2005 and
is now focused on original graphic
novels, anthologies, and art books. The
publisher is launching what it calls its
premier line. The first issue of each
series in the line will be released in print
with additional material. The rest of
each limited five- or six-issue series will
be released in digital, then collected in
a trade paperback edition.
Speaking on the black comics panel,
Walker, who has self-published, worked
for DC and Marvel, and published in the
book trade, offered a vision of the future
that included artist-run self-publishing
companies. Walker is also the founder
of Solid Comix, a crowdfunded self-
publishing platform. “When you publish
with DC or Marvel, you’re a share-
cropper,” he said. “You don’t own any-
thing you’re working on. Self-publishing
gives you a lot control.”
To illustrate, Walker told the audience
about a white editor who said to him,
“I don’t get it. Why do the white suprem-
acists hate black people? Can you
explain that?” Astonished, Walker
declined to explain, and the conversa-
tion with the editor got “ugly,” he said.
“If you own your book project, you can
nurse it and keep it in print as long as
you want—and there’s no one saying
stupid things to you.” —Calvin ReidComic-Con continued from p. 7