Glenn Beck inks new deal for Oprah-like book imprint

Even as he prepares to part company with his cable parent company, Fox News, Glenn Beck continues to aggressively cultivate his personal media brand.

On the heels of Beck's rumored Web TV channel comes word today of a renewed book deal with Simon & Schuster.

As part of the multi-year, multi-book agreement with Simon & Schuster, Beck's production company, Mercury Radio Arts, will launch Mercury Ink, a new publishing division aimed at "discovering and promoting books that appeal to Beck's large audience." A Beck book club, if you will--just like Oprah's.

Kevin Balfe, Mercury's senior vice president of publishing, will head up the imprint; its first acquisition is "Michael Vey: The Prisoner of Cell 25," a young adult novel by Richard Paul Evans.

Beck, who has authored seven consecutive #1 bestsellers since first inking a deal with Simon & Schuster in 2003, plans to continue his current pace of "numerous books every year."

The first title under the renewed agreement, "The Original Argument: The Federalists' Case for the Constitution, Adapted for the 21st Century," goes on sale as a paperback non-fiction title June 14. A new novel by Beck, "The Snow Angel," will be published in October.

By then, the controversial talker could be off Fox News. In April, Beck announced that his contract with the cable network, up at the end of the year, would not be renewed, and that he plans to "transition off of his daily program later this year."

Last month, Beck--whose "Restoring Honor" rally last August drew close to 100,000 Tea Partiers to Washington, D.C.--announced plans to hold another rally in August, this time in Jerusalem.

"God is involved in man's affairs, but so is the force of darkness," Beck told his listeners while announcing the "Restoring Courtage" rally. "I believe I've been asked to stand in Jerusalem. Many in the history of man have had the opportunity to stand with the Jewish people ... and they have failed."