Viking Raids the Financial Bookshelf

Despite reports of a hibernating publishing market, Viking Penguin led the charge for financial book deals at the Frankfurt Book Fair.

According to Book Trade, Viking just inked two deals. First, they bought former stockbroker Seth Freedman’s Wall Street tell-all, Binge Trading. They also purchased Wall Street Journal columnist Gregory Zuckerman’s book, The Greatest Trade Ever–about a trader who anticipated the housing crash and made a fortune.

Freedman most recently wrote a Guardian article entitled “We’ve Been Sold Short,” analyzing the British credit crisis. Zuckerman, on the other hand, just wrote about hedge fund problems. These are the first two deals for newly minted editorial director, Joel Rickett. In a company release he praised both books:

“[R]ather than journalistic re-hashings of current events, both Binge Trading and The Greatest Trade Ever are powerful, personalised stories by well-placed writers. I’m confident they’ll stand the test of time.”

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