YORKSHIRE vicar turned best-selling author GP Taylor has signed a "seven-figure deal" with a major American publisher for a new series of books.
Tyndale House claims the "illustronovellas" – a combination of conventional and graphic novel – are an entirely new genre, which will tempt reluctant readers by introducing more text to the pages as the story progresses.
GP Taylor refused to comme
nt on how much he is being paid to write The Dopple Ganger Chronicles but said it was his biggest deal so far.
His previous books, including Shadowmancer, The Curse of Salamander Street and Mariah Mundi have sold a total of more than three million copies worldwide.
The author said the deal with Tyndale for at least six books would not prevent him from writing other books or stories.
The retired vicar of Cloughton, near Scarborough, said the concept developed as he visited about 200 schools in the region last year. While many children had at least one volume of the Harry Potter stories, as many as two in five had not read them all the way through.
"We live in a generation where we're finding a lot of kids can't concentrate on text alone," he said. "We're living with very short attention spans and a lot of kids are distracted very easily.
"What we've developed is a book which will hopefully turn children's minds on to the exciting story."
There will be an interactive website linked to the books' publication but the author said he hopes the characters and plot also would appeal to adults.
The first installment of The Dopple Ganger Chronicles will be published later this year.
