What fool would pay $60 million for what is sure to be a pack of lies... when we were lied to 8 years for free?
Of course, Chapter 10:
How I Created More Debt Than All The Other Presidents Combined
Will be left out.
-------------------------------
A blockbuster auction for the global rights to two books by Barack and Michelle Obama has reached more than $60 million, according to people with knowledge of the sales process, a record sum for US presidential memoirs.
The Obamas are writing separate books but selling the rights jointly.
Several publishers including Penguin Random House, which published Mr. Obama's previous three books, and HarperCollins, which is owned by Rupert Murdoch's News Corp, have expressed interest in the most hotly anticipated publishing deal of the year.
Simon & Schuster, which is owned by CBS, and Macmillan, are also in the mix for the joint deal. A win by HarperCollins would bring the Obamas into the same publishing house as Bill O'Reilly, the author and Fox News Channel presenter who has been one of the former president's fiercest critics.
Penguin Random House is leading the pack for the Obamas' joint publishing deal, according to those briefed on the auction, with a decision on the winning bid expected imminently. The publisher declined to comment, as did Robert Barnett, Mr. Obama's literary agent, who is fielding offers on behalf of the former president. A spokesman for Mr. Obama also declined to comment.
The sum offered would eclipse other book deals secured by departing presidents. Knopf, a division of Penguin Random House, paid $15 million for the rights to Bill Clinton's 2004 memoirs My Life when he left the White House, while George W Bush made an estimated $10 million from his book Decision Points, which was published by Crown.
One executive from a publisher interested in acquiring the rights, who asked not to be named, said that while Penguin Random House had made a "big move" to secure the books, other publishers were watching the situation closely before deciding their next steps. "It's live," the executive added.
Mr Barnett has become a power player for politicians seeking big book deals. He brokered Tony Blair's £4.5 million contract with Penguin Random House, which is jointly owned by UK education group Pearson and Bertelsmann, the German media company. Pearson last month said it had exercised an option to sell its stake in the company; discussions between the two sides are said to be ongoing.
The Obamas have kept a low profile since leaving the White House. They recently holidayed in Palm Springs and visited Necker Island, where Mr. Obama kite-boarded with Sir Richard Branson.
Having gained a reputation as a writer before entering the White House with his best selling books Dreams From My Father and The Audacity of Hope, Mr. Obama's story of his two terms as president was always likely to attract huge offers from publishing groups.
But the prospect of a joint book deal with his wife Michelle has propelled the auction to record-breaking levels and has set the publishing industry alight.
Mr. Obama earned $8.8 million from The Audacity of Hope, a 2006 bestseller, and the children's book Of Thee I Sing: A Letter to My Daughters, according to a report by Forbes. Sales of his first memoir, Dreams from My Father, published in paperback in 2004, brought in a further $6.8 million in royalties, according to Forbes.
No comments :
Post a Comment