'Big Picture' Author Gets Another Million
by Judy Quinn -- Publishers Weekly, 5/5/1997
His much-hyped The Big Picture may not be making a blockbuster showing on bestseller lists yet, but that didn't stop Hyperion editor Jennifer Barth from acquiring the next book by Douglas Kennedy for, reportedly, a second $1 million advance. "We believe in this author," Hyperion's Lisa Kitei told PW, noting that the new deal, negotiated by agent Wendy Weil (who is "very optimistic" about ultimate sell-through), was made last month, before The Big Picture was published. Kennedy told PW that the new book is tentatively called The Job, and is about "a salesman, downsizing and larceny." It will most likely be published next spring or summer. Last summer, in a smaller backlist deal, the house acquired rights to Kennedy's The Dead Heart, a black comedy about an American journalist in Australia that was previously published only in the U.K., by Little, Brown, in 1994. That story is the basis of an upcoming Cannes Film Festival entry, "Welcome to Woop Woop," and Hyperion is still deciding when to release this book and in which format.
