Niffenegger defeats Blago

The biggest book deal news out of these parts was Blagojevich's six-figure stunner a couple of weeks ago. But according to publishing industry blog Galleycat, novelist/artist Audrey Niffenegger has sold her second novel to Scribner for $4.8 million. And they say big advances for novels are dead! Pshaw!

According to Publisher's Weekly, the novel is tentatively titled Her Fearful Symmetry, and is a 21st-century ghost story about identical twins. Of course, the novel follows 2003's The Time Traveler's Wife, which was a surprise mega-seller for MacAdam/Cage, and in the meantime Niffenegger has published a series of artists' books.

At an AWP panel a few weeks back, Niffenegger sat in the audience of a panel on the topic of making it as a writer in Chicago. During the Q&A—after much discussion about whether a writer would be better off moving to New York—Niffenegger stood and said, "I live in Chicago. A few years ago I decided to write a novel, and it sold millions of copies all over the world. Do what you want to do." Sage advice, especially if it nets you five mill.