Sowing the Seeds of... Heirlooms
Ellen Archer at Hyperion bought three books by Jere Gettle at auction, outbidding six other publishers. Marc Gerald of the Agency Group brokered the deal for Gettle, who founded the Baker Creek Heirloom Seed Company. The gardening company offers over 1,000 varieties of heirloom seeds, which it claims is one of the largest selections in the country. In the first book, The Heirloom Life, Gettle will offer tips on everything from planting and growing to canning and preserving. According to Hyperion, the title is "more than just a gardening book" and gives lifestyle fixes for people "who long for real food and a truer way of living." The second title in the deal will be a cookbook.

To the Underworld and Back Again
Agent Michael Bourret at Dystel & Goderich closed a three-book deal with Kristin Daly at Balzer + Bray, selling North American rights in a pre-empt for a YA paranormal romance by debut author Brodi Ashton. The first book in the deal, The Ever'neath, is partially based on the Greek myth of Persephone: a 17-year-old who's been banished to the underworld escapes to her former earthly existence with her family and boyfriend. The catch is that she only has six months in the real world before being sent back to Hades, this time forever. Book one is tentatively scheduled for winter 2012.

Steve Ross Gets Physical
Steve Ross, in his first deal as an agent at Abrams Artists Agency, sold You Are Your Own Gym: The Bible of Bodyweight Exercises for Men and Women to Marnie Cochran at Ballantine. Cochran bought world rights at auction and plans on publishing the book, by trainer Mark Lauren writing with Joshua Clark, in early 2011. Lauren has trained thousands of special ops soldiers and, in the book, offers what the publisher calls "an ingeniously simple exercise routine" for getting results. Clark, an NBCC finalist for his memoir about surviving Hurricane Katrina, Heart Like Water, is also a personal trainer.

GCP Gets into the DiSpirito
Grand Central v-p and executive editor Diana Baroni inked a world rights, three-book deal with celebrity chef Rocco DiSpirito. David Vigliano, at Vigliano Associates, represented DiSpirito, whose first book in the agreement will be The Now Eat This! Diet; scheduled for April 2011, it's a follow-up to his current bestseller, Now Eat This! (Ballantine, Mar.). The new book will offer a diet program as well as recipes. The other two books in the deal—Now Eat This! Quick Fixes and Now Eat This! Italian—are scheduled to drop in fall 2011.

Briefs
Anne Sibbald at Janklow & Nesbit closed a three-book deal for Stuart Woods at the author's longtime publisher, Penguin's Putnam imprint. Ivan Held and Rachel Kahan took U.S. and Canadian rights. The books will feature Woods's lawyer-investigator hero, Stone Barrington, his most popular, according to Penguin.

Alessandra Balzer, of Balzer + Bray, bought world English rights in a two-book deal to Adele Enersen's When My Baby Dreams. The book grew out of Enersen's blog, which has drawn more than two million visitors since going live in June; on the site she posts photos of her baby sleeping in unique poses. Stephen Barr at Writers House brokered the deal, and the first book is tentatively slated for winter 2012.

Correction
Last week's column only included the subtitle of Zac Bissonnette's book; the full title is Debt-Free U: How I Paid for an Outstanding Education Without Loans, Scholarships, or Mooching Off My Parents.