On Hoping the Pink Panther Returns
When it comes to book and licensing deals, sometimes the tail can wag the dog—or the cat.
That's the lesson Susan Schwartz is learning, one sauntering step at a time. Schwartz is the founder of, and dynamo behind, Surrey Books, a Chicago micropress known for its hospitality titles. The business has plugged along nicely for 25 years, doing about 10 titles a year and bringing in revenue for itself and its distributor, PGW.
Quiet, that is, until last year, when Schwartz became the unlikely holder of a coveted MGM license for Pink Panther books—and saw her little sailboat thrust into the gales of Hollywood release schedules.
Through a connection with the artist Shag, also a Surrey author, she learned that a license was available for books featuring the frisky feline. Though they weren't official tie-ins, they'd get a boost from an upcoming movie starring Steve Martin and Beyoncé. On a lark, Schwartz contacted MGM. "I'd never thought I'd get it," she said, but she did, in part because Elaine Piechowski, the MGMer in charge of the license, once worked at Penguin and knew the book world well.
But Clouseau-like hijinks soon ensued. First MGM was sold to Sony. Schwartz received assurances the movie would be released on time this summer—until Sony began dithering. By the time BEA rolled around, Schwartz (who had hired a Pink Panther character for her booth) learned that the film was postponed... until next February.
Schwartz is now holding the biggest book, The Pink Panther Entertains, until January, though she said she is holding it because she wants to change the editorial focus, not because of the release delay. She's also holding her breath: "I can't be like a big publisher and just buy 50 licenses and not do five of them. I need this."
As more small publishers get into licensing, it's an uplifting story—but also, perhaps, a cautionary one. "I can control all the factors with the other books," Schwartz said. "I can't here." Still, she's staying hopeful. "I thought it was a tremendous opportunity. I talk to media and say Pink Panther, and their ears perk up," she said. "I mean, you called."
Them: The Shopping-It- Around Manual?
You: The Owner's Manualauthors Michael Roizen and Mehmet Oz reportedly are shopping a new book via agent Charlotte Gusay. Collins published the quirky compendium of health facts and tips that's now a phenomenon. It's thought to have an option on the new one, but the proposal, which is said to be for a diet book, has been making the rounds. Collins Group chief Joe Tessitore said only, "We would like to do more books from [the authors of] You: The Owner's Manual and we're negotiating to do that." Gusay, who was traveling, said she had no information at this time.
The Briefing
Fans of the cult show Freaks and Geeks will recognize Paul Feig's name—and now, hopes Little, Brown Books for Young Readers, many will know his YA book. The house will do two YA titles, the first, Ignatious MacFarland, Frequenant, a sci-fi—tinged story about adolescence. The author's adult Superstudwas done by Three Rivers. He's got film interest, too, as per Jason Anthony.... When critics become novelists: Entertainment Weekly's Gillian Flynn has sold a thriller and a second novel to Sally Kim at Crown. Flynn's a TV critic; she'll write in the first book, Sharp Objects, about a reporter who returns home to report on mur-dah.... Speaking of sharp things, David Cashion at Viking has signed The Sharper Your Knife, the Less You Cry, about "a journalist-turned-corporate exec who falls in love, gets downsized, cashes in her savings and heads to France to pursue her lifelong dream of studying French cuisine in Paris," via ex-Random tech dude Larry Weissman.... Those with ambitions of "control[ling] and respond[ing] to any marketplace environment" might pick up a book from business guru Alan Kelly, whom Dutton has just signed. The book was sold by new agent Jeremy Katz; the Sanford Greenburger was formerly at Putnam, sister company to... Dutton.
