Egmont secures 10 deals for Meggitt-Phillips debut

Egmont Publishing has secured 10 deals for The Beast and the Bethany by Jack Meggitt-Phillips. 

Rights have been snapped up in Italy, Germany, France, Denmark, Norway, Brazil, Finland, Israel and the Netherlands, plus UK audio, with most rights sold at auction or pre-empted. Several more deals are in the pipeline.

Egmont rights director Juliette Clark said: “The buzz around The Beast and the Bethany going into Frankfurt has been massive – our phones have been ringing off the hook, and now that we’re at the fair everyone wants to talk to us about it. It’s an absolute dream of a book to sell, and it’s keeping us very busy!”

Egmont pre-empted the new series in a three-book six-figure deal just three weeks ago. Editorial director Lindsey Heaven, commissioning editor Liz Bankes and fiction publishing director Ali Dougal  signed the deal for world (excluding US/Canada) translation rights, with Rachel Mann of Jo Unwin Literary Agency for the “mischievously macabre and funny middle-grade debut” by Meggitt-Phillips.

The Beast and the Bethany has been Egmont’s biggest new fiction title for Frankfurt Book Fair 2019. The first book will launch in Autumn 2020 in paperback with lavish cover finishes and illustrations throughout.