PW: Higgins Clark in Five-Book Deal with S&S

Bestselling author Mary Higgins Clark has signed a five-book deal with Simon & Schuster that will include four new novels as well as a memoir. Sources said that under the terms of the deal, Higgins Clark has the potential to earn $15 million per novel, as well as another $4 million for the memoir. The first novel is due out in time for Mother's Day 2001, and the plan is to release one novel each spring for the next three years. The memoir will be published in fall 2001.

S&S acquired worldwide rights to the five books and plans to simultaneously publish each work in the U.S., U.K. and Australia as part of S&S's emphasis on global English language publishing. The deal was negotiated by Eugene Winick and Sam Pinkus of McIntosh & Otis Inc. on behalf of Clark, and by S&S trade division president Carolyn Reidy.

The new deal comes as Higgins Clark and S&S celebrate her 25th anniversary with the publisher. S&S paid $3,000 for the author's first suspense novel, Where Are the Children? in 1975. Higgins Clark has written 19 novels and three short story collections, all of which are available from S&S and Pocket Books.