Publishing Industry Lowdown (May 21-25)

It’s that day again–time for Sooz’s YA and MG Publishing Industry Lowdown. The general idea is that I share all the deals I know 0f in the young adult and middle grade publishing world each Friday.

My source for deal news is Publishers Marketplace, which requires a paid subscription. As such I’m only sharing part of the information here–basically, just author names and pitches. If you want to know deal sizes (e.g. advances), editors, publishers, and agents, I highly recommend you sign up for PM–it’s totally worth the cost!

We’ve had a solid number of deals this week, so let’s get started, shall we?

Deals

Cornelia Funke’s middle grade GHOST KNIGHT, a tale of bravery, friendship and ghosts, about an eleven-year-old boy at boarding school who pairs with a friend to uncover the secrets of a centuries-old murder, while being haunted by ghosts intent on revenge, for publication in November 2012

Author of THE BONESHAKER and THE BROKEN LANDS Kate Milford’s middle grade LEFT-HANDED FATE, a nautical fantasy set in 1813 in which three kids from both sides of the conflict join forces to find the pieces of a legendary device they believe will stop the wars in the Atlantic, for publication in Fall 2014.

Lisa Bullard’s middle grade TURN LEFT AT THE COW, about a boy who finds out that his dead-before-he-was-born dad may have been a bank robber and hunts for the missing loot.

Co-creators of HERBERT’S WORMHOLE Peter Nelson and Rohitash Rao’s middle grade CREATURE KEEPERS series, about a secret society of kids who tend the mythical creatures of the world, and one boy’s heroic, if mangy, quest to keep the B-listers out of the hands of an evil genius, in a four-book deal.

Anne Riley’s young adult SHADOWS OF THE HIDDEN, in which a teenage girl discovers the true reason behind her parents’ disappearances and finds herself at the center of a centuries-old quest for immortality, for publication in December 2012.

Attachments and Eleanor & Park author Rainbow Rowell’s young adult FANGIRL, about a girl who would rather live inside of someone else’s stories than risk living her own; a coming-of-age tale of fan fiction, family and first love.

Paula Stokes’s young adult THE ART OF LAINEY, in which a recently dumped girl employs strategy and subterfuge cribbed from The Art of War to get her ex-boyfriend back, with unanticipated results, in a two-book deal, for publication in Summer 2014.

Carolyn Meyer’s young adult BEAUTY’S DAUGHTER, about the plain daughter of the beautiful Helen of Troy.

NYT bestselling author Aimee Friedman’s young adult THE SUMMERS, pitched as Eat, Pray, Love meets Sliding Doors, in which a girl’s summer is split into two parallel universes and the reader gets to follow her on each one, as she falls in love and discovers some startling truths, for publication in 2014.

Cayla Kluver’s new young adult fantasy series where a young fae girl sets out on a daunting quest in the human world to find the estranged son and heir to the faerie realm’s dying queen, when she is attacked by human hunters and her wings are brutally cut off, making her return home impossible, in a two-book deal.

Star Wars franchise author Jason Fry’s multi-volume middle grade series THE JUPITER PIRATES, about a family of space privateers (operating under a Letter of Marque from a coalition of moons and planets at war with Earth) who live by a tradition in which the kids, in a sort of high-stakes “Space School on Rocket Blasters,” must compete for the captaincy of the family ship, even as they work together to battle rogue space pirates, venal Earth diplomats, and even treason from within the family, in a good deal, at auction, for the first three books in a series of five.

Jodi Carmichael’s middle grade SPAGHETTI IS NOT A FINGER FOOD And Other Life Lessons, a humorous story told from the viewpoint of an eight-year-old boy with Asperger Syndrome; its central theme is acceptance; both of ourselves and others, for publication in November 2012.

Victoria Scott’s young adult The DANTE WALKER series, books two and three in a series about Satan’s heart-throb soul collector, for publication in 2013.

Victoria Scott’s young adult THE COLLECTOR, in which a bad boy teen soul collector needs a girl’s soul, but she’s making him forget his mission and endangering his heart instead; big boss Satan is not going to be happy, for publication in 2013.

Charlotte Bennardo & Natalie Zaman’s young adult BLONDE OPS, pitched as The Devil Wears Prada meets James Bond for teens, featuring a fashion magazine intern in Rome who uncovers a plot to kidnap the First Lady, for publication in 2014.

Sparkle aka Shelia Goss’s young adult SADE’S SECRET, book one of the Sweet Sixteen Diaries, wherein Sade harbors a secret of molestation, and turning sweet sixteen is not so sweet after all, in a two-book deal, for publication in May 2012.

Gina Damico’s the third book in the young adult CROAK series, about a teenage Grim Reaper, for publication in Fall 2013.

Elizabeth Langston’s debut young adult WHISPER FALLS, a story of suspense and romance that tells the tale of two teens, an indentured servant from another era and a present-day teen just trying to get through high school, fated to be together in spite of the 200 years of history, time and danger that separate them, for publication in Fall 2013.

Amanda Stevens’s young adult CHRYSALIS, in which a 16-year-old coma patient discovers her soul can jump from body to body, a skill she utilizes in searching for her would-be killer, in a three-book deal, for publication starting in February 2014.

Maurene Goo’s young adult SINCE YOU ASKED, a humorous, debut novel about a Korean-American teenager who accidentally lands her own column in her high school newspaper, and proceeds to rant her way through the school year while struggling to reconcile the traditional Korean values of her parents with contemporary American culture, for publication in July 2013. 

Natasha Farrant’s debut middle grade AFTER IRIS: THE DIARIES OF BLUEBELL GADSBY, in which a thirteen year-old chronicles her lovable but eccentric family’s trials and tribulations on video, in film transcripts, and through diary entries as they recover from a tragedy and learn how to be together again, for publication in 2013.

Sally Rigby’s young adult WILL THE REAL ABI SAUNDERS STAND UP, focusing on how an introverted seventeen-year-old kickboxing champion’s life, agreeing to be the stunt double for a wayward movie star, changes irrevocably.

Myra McEntire’s young adult INFINITY GLASS, the third book in the Hourglass series of timeslip romances, about a group of teens with unique time-travel abilities, for publication in Summer 2013.

(Source: Publisher’s Marketplace)

You tell me: Do YOU have any big news to share?

♥