Former President Clinton to Get $10M to Publish Memoir

By Linton Weeks Washington Post Staff Writer Monday, August 6, 2001; 6:15 PM

Former president Bill Clinton is receiving more than $10 million – the largest advance for a nonfiction book in U.S. publishing history – to write a memoir, according to a publishing source. Sonny Mehta, president and editor-in-chief of Alfred A. Knopf, announced today that his house will publish the book sometime in 2003.

"President Clinton is one of the dominant figures on the global stage," Mehta said in a statement today. "He has lived an extraordinary life, and he has a great story to tell. His memoir, one of the most widely anticipated books in memory, will be a thorough and candid telling of his life, with a primary focus on the White House years."

A publishing source said that Clinton turned down several eight-figure offers before reaching an agreement with Knopf last Friday. Knopf is a highbrow division of Random House, which, in turn, is owned by Bertelsmann AG, a Germany-based media company.

The book will be edited by Robert Gottlieb, who also coached Katharine Graham and Lauren Bacall in the ways of autobiography. Gottlieb, who has also edited Toni Morrison and Robert Caro, is an editor-at-large for Knopf.

The paperback will be published by Vintage a year later. Knopf has acquired world publishing rights to the book--including pre- and post-publication serial rights, Englishlanguage and translation rights, and audio and electronic rights to the publication of the book--but Clinton retains movie and dramatization rights.

The former president has received dozens of inquiries from international publishers who hope to buy foreign rights to the book.

"In all the years I've been doing this I've never seen more interest in a book," said attorney Robert P. Barnett of Williams & Connolly, who represents the Clintons in their various literary endeavors.

The eye-popping advance surpasses the $8 million that Hillary Clinton received for her memoir and the $8.5 million that Pope John Paul II received in 1994 for his book.

-- Anonymous, August 06, 2001

Answers

If there is an idiot with money, the Clinton's will find them.

-- Anonymous, August 06, 2001

If they are going to give him 10M to write it, can I expect my check for 20M to read it?

otherwise, forget it!

-- Anonymous, August 06, 2001

...with a primary focus on the White House years."

I thought they said it wouldn't be fiction?

-- Anonymous, August 06, 2001