Atria is touting the acquisition of a self-published bestselling romance, sparing no opportunity to compare the book to that other well known self-published phenomenon topping bestseller lists that some might have heard of: 50 Shades of Grey.
Jamie McGuire, who self-published the novel Beautiful Disaster, has signed a two-book deal with Atria, after the S&S imprint won a bidding war for the book. Through the deal--Atria's Amy Tannenbaum took world English rights from agent Rebecca Watson (who is with the British firm that represents 50 Shades of Grey author E.L. James)--the S&S imprint will re-publish Beautiful Disaster digitally, with a trade paperback to follow The second book in the deal is a sequel called Walking Disaster.
Beautiful Disater was released as an e-book by McGuire in May 2011 and then, in October 2011, the author published a trade paperback edition. According to Atria, the novel has now sold over 200,000 copies, recently appearing as high as #9 on the New York Times's bestseller list. Atria's digital edition of Beautiful Disaster is set to publish immediately, with its print edition scheduled for August.
Thus far, foreign rights to Beautiful Disaster have been acquired in 10 countries. The book, which has received strong customer reviews on various e-tailers and social reading sites, ranging from BN.com to Amazon to Goodreads, is about a woman torn between two men. Atria elaborated about the suitors, saying: "one who represents safety and security, and another who seems likely to pull her back toward danger." The second book in the deal, which is scheduled for 2013, will continue the storyline in the first book.
