Blind Submission (41 page)
EPILOGUE
B
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W
EEKLY
JUNE 13âJUNE 19
Real Deals
Hot deal for
Cold!
author:
The biggest news in publishing this week, and no doubt for many more to come, is the sizzling sale of a new book by reclusive, elusive
Karanuk,
author of the award-winning, mega-selling phenomenon
Cold!
Quelling the seemingly endless speculation as to what Karanuk might do for an encore,
Gordon Hart
announced early this week that
HartHouse
will publish
Thaw
next spring as (no surprise) a lead title. Hart won what he described as “a stunning follow-up” from Karanuk's longtime literary agent,
Lucy Fiamma,
after a heated auction involving at least ten publishers. “We are absolutely thrilled,” Fiamma said from her Marin County office. “Second acts are always challenging, but Karanuk had an especially difficult task after the enormous success of
Cold!
He took his time and he has created a unique, inspiring book that was well worth waiting for.” Fiamma has good reason to be thrilled; the sale is reported to have topped out at seven figures. “We are extremely excited to be working with Gordon Hart,” Fiamma added, “and we are confident that HartHouse will do a beautiful job with this very important book.” No word yet on whether or not the mysterious Karanuk will make any appearances to promote this book when published, but Fiamma won't rule out the possibility. “We are discussing options at the moment,” Fiamma said. “Expect the unexpected.”
B
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JULY 11âJULY 17
Real Deals
An “angel” gets her wings with first book by star-watcher:
Astrologer and first-time author
Solange Martin
got news this week that even she couldn't have predicted. That news was that her memoir,
Balsamic Moon,
had been sold to
Natalie Weinstein
of
Weinstein Books
at
Gabriel Press.
Weinstein bought world rights for the book with a six-figure preemptive offer. Weinstein described the memoir as a “real-life
Da Vinci Code
with an astrological twist” and hails the author as “a major new voice in nonfiction.” What is perhaps bigger news than this, though, is
who
Weinstein made the deal with: brand-new literary agent
Angel Robinson,
formerly of the
Lucy Fiamma Literary Agency.
“She has a great eye and a wonderful book sense,” Weinstein said of Robinson. “I'm really looking forward to working with her.” Could Robinson be a major new voice in the world of agents? It seems that she's well on her way. Although Robinson isn't naming names, her assistant,
Jackson Stark,
claims that the agency is inundated with submissions and recently signed at least one “very big” author.
B
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W
EEKLY
JULY 18âJULY 24
Bookselling News This Week
Blue Moon rises again:
When
Elise Miller
closed the doors of her well-known but often-struggling bookstore,
Blue Moon,
last year, she planned to “relax, garden, and forget about the high-stress world of bookselling.” Fortunately for her devoted customers and the authors she helped support, Miller just couldn't stay away. This week she announced the grand opening of
Blue Moon 2,
a smaller but no less diverse store nestled in the heart of Marin County, California. “Our goal is to carry titles that are varied enough to attract readers looking for a change from the same old thing,” Miller said. “I've found that most people are hungry for recommendations beyond the bestseller lists. There's no substitute for human exchange. We want to provide a place where people feel comfortable asking questions.” The original Blue Moon was a popular stop for both touring and local authors, and Miller plans to continue that with the new store. “We've got an amazing lineup of authors already,” said
Anna Anderson,
the store's events coordinator. “This is going to be a really exciting year.” Anderson claims to have booked several well-known authors as well as some hot newcomers, including
Damiano Vero,
whose forthcoming book,
Parco Lambro,
is already garnering rave reviews. Anderson also hinted about “a very major literary event” to come but remained mum about what that might be.
B
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W
EEKLY
AUGUST 15âAUGUST 21
Real Deals
Fiamma's Angel agents the agent:
It's a story that could only happen in publishing, folks. Hot on the heels of her first big sale,
Angel Robinson
of the
Robinson Literary Agency
scored again this week with the phenomenal sale of
Blind Submission,
a novel by none other than her ex-boss
Lucy Fiamma.
In a further literary twist, the novel is about, yes, a literary agent and her assistant-turned-writer. Who said the book world was self-absorbed? Robinson generated enough enthusiasm to cut short several summer vacations for what she called “a very lively auction.”
Triad
was the winner of this one, with publisher
Julianne Davis
personally making the deal with Robinson for an undisclosed sum. “It's a fabulous book,” Robinson said, “written by a talented and deserving author who obviously knows the territory well.” Triad plans to publish in the spring.
B
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EEKLY
NOVEMBER 14âNOVEMBER 20
Real Deals
Robinson gives thanks:
The unstoppable
Angel Robinson
announced the sale of an important project this week, just in time to make Thanksgiving a very happy one. Robinson's special deal was for an author who is, literally, very close to home for the agent. The book, sold on a proposal, is titled
Fringe: A Study of Witches, Goddesses, and Other Women on the Edge of Normal,
and the author is
Hillary Robinson,
the mother of her own agent.
Gordon Hart
made the deal for
HartHouse,
outbidding two other publishers.
Kate Small
will edit.
La mère
Robinson was unavailable for comment, but her daughter told us this: “Hillary has an encyclopedic knowledge of these groups as well as direct experience. This is going to be a stunning book on an extremely important topic but will be accessible to all readers.”
Spoken like a good daughter.
B
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W
EEKLY
MARCH 13âMARCH 19
Bookselling News This Week
Surprise appearance makes Blue Moon 2 the hottest ticket in town:
Patrons of
Blue Moon 2
bookstore were rewarded for their loyalty last Monday when none other than renowned
Cold!
author
Karanuk
gave an impromptu lunchtime reading of his new, already mega-selling book,
Thaw,
to a lucky crowd of readers. Because Karanuk has been so reclusive in the past, he was able to browse unrecognized in the stacks until store owner
Elise Miller
made the announcement that he was there. Wearing a baseball cap, blue jeans, and a Lakers sweatshirt, Karanuk took a seat on the small stage at the far end of the store and read for thirty minutes to a rapt audience. Word spread quickly that Karanuk, who has never before given a public reading, was in Blue Moon 2, and by one o'clock the store was full to capacity.
“We knew he was coming,” events coordinator
Anna Anderson
said, “but of course we respected his request that we not broadcast this information to the media. This is a once-in-a-lifetime event and we wanted to do it the way he wanted.” Anderson reported that she'd ordered “hundreds” of both of Karanuk's books, but that the store sold out almost immediately.
Karanuk's publisher,
HartHouse,
denies that he will be touring for
Thaw.
So what was behind Karanuk's surprise appearance? And why Blue Moon 2? San Francisco power-agent
Angel Robinson
may have something to do with it. After his reading, Karanuk thanked Robinson for “beginning the thaw that led to my vernal equinox.” Robinson, a longtime friend and colleague of Miller's, was in attendance with her husband, author
Damiano Vero.
“She can read the heart of a writer,” Karanuk said of Robinson, “and understand what she finds there. And that is something only an angel can do.”
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
FOR THEIR LOVE,
encouragement, support and patience, I would like to offer huge thanks to: my family, especially my sister Maya, who gets an additional lifetime thank-you for being the only person to have read everything I've ever written; G, Gabe, and Gabriel; Shaye Areheart (and everyone at Shaye Areheart Books), for giving this book such a welcoming home; my literary agent, Linda Loewenthal, for taking such good care of me; my inestimable editor, Sally Kim, for making so many wonderful things possible.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
DEBRA GINSBERG
is the author of the memoirs
Waiting, Raising Blaze,
and
About My Sisters.
This is her first novel. She lives in Southern California. Visit her at
www.debraginsberg.com.
Nonfiction by Debra Ginsberg
About My Sisters
Raising Blaze:
Bringing Up an Extraordinary Son in an Ordinary World
Waiting:
The True Confessions of a Waitress
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.
Copyright © 2006 by Debra Ginsberg
All rights reserved.
Published in the United States by Shaye Areheart Books, an imprint of the Crown Publishing Group, a division of Random House, Inc., New York.
Shaye Areheart Books and colophon are trademarks of Random House, Inc.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Blind submission : a novel / Debra Ginsberg.â1st ed.
1. Literary agentsâFiction. I. Title.
PS3607.I4585B56 2006
813'.6âdc22 2006013198
eISBN: 978-0-307-35149-4
v3.0
