Crown Preempts

Rick Horgan at Crown has preempted Lars Brownworth’s Twelve Byzantine Rulers from Tina Bennett at Janklow & Nesbit, who sold North American rights. Brownworth is a high school teacher on Long Island who amassed a huge following upon releasing his ancient history lectures as podcasts, prompting a New York Times profile in January. The book will cover 1,200 years of Byzantine history, examining the culture’s forgotten role in preserving classical thought, connecting East and West, and building modern Western society. This project is Crown’s third podcasting-derived acquisition in recent months, on the heels of podcasting horror writer Scott Sigler’s multibook deal and askaninja.com’s The Ninja Handbook.

And Crown’s Heather Jackson has preempted Mayo Clinic researcher Dr. James Levine’s first book, The N.E.A.T. Revolution; Eve Bridburg at Zachary Shuster Harmsworth sold world rights. Levine, who has conducted the most comprehensive obesity study in history, will explain the importance of everyday movement (N.E.A.T., or Non-Exercise Activity Thermogenesis) in promoting health, mental sharpness and weight control. Pub date is fall 2008.

Two days after submission, Deb Futter at Doubleday preempted a first novel titled April and Oliver by Tess Callahan; agent Anne Edelstein sold North American rights. The book is about two inseparable childhood friends from Long Island; after years apart, their lives collide after the death of one’s younger brother. Callahan has an MFA from Bennington; a portion of the book was published in Agni and was subsequently nominated for a Pushcart. Pub date is spring 2009, and Vintage will follow in paperback.

In Steve Ross’s second acquisition since taking the helm at Collins, he and Ethan Friedman won an auction for Travis Bradberry’s The Seagull Manager: A Little Parable About a Big Problem Hovering Inside Every Workplace. Bradberry, president and co-founder of global think tank TalentSmart, will offer insights into how to transform workplaces filled with swooping, squawking and dumping managers. Stephen W. Hanselman at Level Five Media sold world rights and Collins Business will publish; no pub date yet.

Paul Golob at Times Books bought a new book by Seth Davis, tentatively titled Magic Monday, which will recount the epic 1979 NCAA basketball tournament that propelled Magic Johnson and Larry Bird to national stardom. Davis, who covers college basketball for Sports Illustrated, will draw on original research and new interviews to recapture the tournament’s signature moments and reveal the little-known stories that shaped the rivalry between Johnson’s Michigan State Spartans and Bird’s Indiana State Sycamores. Agent David Black sold world rights; pub date is winter 2009, the 30th anniversary of the tournament.

Basic’s Lara Heimert bought world rights to Rachel Lehmann-Haupt’s Starting Later from Lydia Wills at Paradigm. Blending personal narrative with journalistic investigation, Lehmann-Haupt will tell her own story of reaching 36 without a mate, but with an overwhelming desire to have a child. Exploring the emotional issues at stake and the major impact of the biological clock on personal relationships as well as professional decisions, Lehmann-Haupt will also investigate new developments in fertility technology and conception science. Pub date is winter 2008.

Hyperion’s Ellen Archer has acquired world rights to Bill Tancer’s Click: How What We Do Online Unlocks the Secrets of Who We Are via Melissa Flashman at Trident. Tancer, general manager of global research at online competitive intelligence company Hitwise, will take readers behind the scenes and into the massive database of online intelligence to find out what we are doing with all that time online and what it tells us about ourselves and our future. Gretchen Young will edit, and Hyperion will publish in July 2008.

Dave Adams at MacAdam/Cage has acquired Sheldon Siegel’s next three Mike Daley legal thrillers, in a three-book deal with agent Margaret McBride, with the first, Judgment Day, to pub next summer. Siegel is the author of five previous courtroom dramas, including The Confession.... Maria Gagliano at Perigee bought world rights to Idealist.org’s Handbook to Working for a Better World, by the Idealist.org staff with Stephanie Land; the project was unagented. From the world’s largest nonprofit networking Web site, this will be a guide to using one’s professional skills to make a difference on any level, from volunteering and philanthropy to working in the nonprofit sector.... Robert Pigeon at DaCapo acquired U.S. rights to a new book by Conor Cruise O’Brien, titled First in Peace: Washington, Jefferson and the Future of America. Ivan Mulcahy made the deal, and Da Capo plans a spring 2008 pub.