Richard Abate

Heroes creator Tim Kring is collaborating with literary critic and novelist Dale Peck on a sci-fi/alternative-history trilogy that was sold at auction to Crown yesterday for an advance said to be worth a staggering $3 million.

According to an industry source, the book is set in America, and runs from the 1960s to the near future. The protagonist is a man named Chandler Forrest whose participation in LSD experiments administered by the C.I.A. has given him superpowers.  read more »

Back when the writers' strike was keeping him out of work, actor Rob Lowe decided it'd be fun to write a book about his life. And so he wrote up a proposal, and with the help of Richard Abate of the Endeavor Talent Agency, submitted it in early February to publishers all over town. Mr. Lowe was a big hit, according to Mr. Abate, impressing editors with his insistence on writing the book himself instead of hiring a ghostwriter like most celebrities do for their memoirs.

After an intense auction, the book had a buyer in Jonathan Karp, publisher of the upstart Hachette Book Group imprint Twelve. Mr. Karp, who publishes just one book every month, beat out formidable bids from several other major houses, agreeing to pay Mr. Lowe what several knowledgeable sources said was about a million dollars.

The deal was just about ready to go—Mr. Abate had informed Mr. Karp that he had prevailed in the auction and contract negotiations were under way—when, on Wednesday the 13th, the writers' strike up and ended, and Mr. Lowe suddenly became an actor again.  read more »

Richard Abate jumped to join super agent Emanuel in Endeavor and ended up in a lower Manhattan courtroom.  read more »