Author Jill Conner Browne, who launched her highly successful Sweet Potato Queens series for Crown with nothing more than a title and an idea four years ago, got a big payday when it came time for Crown editorial director Steve Ross to renew her contract. He paid seven figures to agent Jenny Bent at the Harvey Klinger agency for two more entries in the saga of the down-to-earth Southern belles; for that he got North American rights and audio for two new paperbacks, to be published by the house's Three Rivers imprint. It was Willie Morris's widow, JoAnne Pritchard Morris, who first brought Browne to Crown's attention; the first book, The Sweet Potato Queens' Book of Love, started small but ended up selling half a million copies. There's still one to go under the old contract: The Sweet Potato Queens' Big-Ass Cookbook (and Financial Planner), due in January.