A former youwriteon.com resident critic and co-designer of the site’s ratings system has landed bumper publishing deals on both sides of the
Atlantic for his first novel aimed at teenagers.
Martyn Bedford, author of five previous novels for adults, has agreed substantial five-figure contracts with Walker Books, the UK’s leading independent children’s publisher, and Wendy Lamb Books, an imprint of Random House in New York, for his book, Flip.
His debut in the teenage and young adult fiction genre sparked bidding wars in both countries, with four publishers making offers in the U.S. and no fewer than seven competing for the British rights to publish Flip and a second, as yet unwritten, novel. In two further deals, Doubleday has agreed to publish Flip in while, in
Milan , the Mondadori publishing house has bought translation rights for an Italian edition of the book.
Bedford ’s writing career was launched in 1996 with the novel, Acts of Revision, published by Bantam Press, which won the Yorkshire Post Best First Work Award. Between them, his five novels for adults have been translated into twelve languages.
“Writing for the teen and YA market was uncharted territory for me, so I’m amazed and delighted that my first attempt has gone down so well with publishers,” he says.
Flip is the story of a 14-year-old called Alex who wakes up one morning inside another boy’s body and finds himself in a life-and-death quest to return to his true self or be trapped forever in the wrong existence.
“It’s about identity and the relationship between mind and body in giving us our sense of who we are,” says
Bedford . “But above all, I hope, it’s a cracking story that keeps the reader turning the pages to discover what happens to Alex and the other boy.”
Mara Bergman, senior commissioning editor at Walker Books, said: “Flip firmly establishes Martyn Bedford as a hot new literary talent for teenage readers. It is one of those rare books an editor is always hoping to find: one with a riveting story, terrific characters and wonderful writing. We had to pull out all the stops to win Flip for Walker Books and I’m thrilled to be publishing it.”
The novel will be published in the in autumn 2010 and in spring 2011. Meanwhile,
Bedford ’s agent, Stephanie Thwaites, at the Curtis Brown literary agency, is brokering translation rights for the book in and the .
Martyn Bedford is an exciting new addition to Walker's teen list, where he will sit alongside such luminaries as Anthony Horowitz, Mal Peet, Sonya Hartnett, Patrick Ness and Cassandra Clare.
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