Palin's book deal
Will enough readers line up to justify a $7 million advance?
Literary agents are scrambling for Sarah Palin.
(AP Photo/Lynne Sladky)
Sarah Palin couldn’t save John McCain, said Tony Allen-Mills in London's Times Online, but she “may yet emerge as the savior of the American publishing industry.” Literary agents are lining up to sign the former Republican vice-presidential candidate to a book deal that could earn her $7 million, and sales should justify the price.
Not bad for a “small-town Alaska girl turned beauty queen,” said the blog OhMyGov!. It’s too soon to know whether Palin is paving the way for a run for national office in 2012, or simply “defending herself from being labeled an intellectually weak, shop-a-holic, ticket-spoiling, loose cannon.” But one thing’s for sure—she’ll soon have enough money “to keep her living large in ‘real’ America for life.”
“We’ll believe it when we see it,” said Ron Hogan in mediabistro.com. An early source of the speculation on the size of Palin’s book deal came from Radar online, citing anonymous sources. But her best chance for a deal “might come from the Christian publishing market, which would no doubt welcome a memoir about how Palin's faith and family led her to and guided her through her historic moment in the spotlight ... but we can't remember when any publisher there paid that much money for a single book.”
Don't underestimate the public's continued interest in Palin, said Kathryn Jean Lopez in National Review Online. “Whatever you thought of her, it seemed everyone in the country had an opinion on Palin”—and many conservatives were energized by “her simple and clear patriotism.” So don’t sell the “Palin phenom” short just because her ticket lost.
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18 Comments
Posted by Jon, Tuesday, November 18, 2008, 1:30 pm You couldn't pay me enough money to read about this woman... $7M... what a joke.
Posted by Nick, Tuesday, November 18, 2008, 1:53 pm Nothing she said on the campaign trail was true... why would you pay to read it in a book?
Posted by sheila, Tuesday, November 18, 2008, 1:58 pm This is just a confirmation that it was always about her. Let's hope this $7M will be enough to keep her in Alaska and we don't hear and see her again. It'd be awesome if this book ends up at the 99 cents stores :)
Posted by Bob Heath, Tuesday, November 18, 2008, 2:05 pm electpalin.com
Posted by Mike, Tuesday, November 18, 2008, 2:08 pm How many pages of tripe about this woman can a ghost writer put together before collapsing either from laughter or shame. I'll be looking for the book on the remainder table at the big booksellers within a couple months of publication.
Posted by Kam, Tuesday, November 18, 2008, 3:50 pm Palin's book can't have any more ghost written tripe than Hillary's "It Takes a Village" nonsense. I guess the perspective of the reader depends upon which side of the feeding trough he or she sits. Palin seems to evoke the same sort of hatred and distain that Hillary does.
Posted by Rachel, Tuesday, November 18, 2008, 5:09 pm Why are you all so upset by this? Many in her position would write a book. She lost already and is largely ridiculed (and largely praised), so why the bitterness? I am by no means a Palin supporter, but the visceral hatred towards prominent female politicians in particular is unsettling.
Posted by Michael J. Gorman, Tuesday, November 18, 2008, 5:26 pm Sarah Palin is not just a woman -- she's the epitome of womanhood! All other women throughout history pale by comparison to Palin. Pale to Palin, get it? Cleopatra, Lady Go Diva, the Mona Lisa, Monroe, Taylor, Mansfield, Lena Horne, Mae West, Grace Kelly, Ingrid Bergman, Josephine Baker, all are like nothing compared to Palin. $7 million is a pittance for such talent and beauty as Palin has -- not to mention her eloquence with the English Language, her artful metaphors, her luscious dangling participles had her ripe symbolism. You go girl!
Posted by Rachel, Tuesday, November 18, 2008, 5:42 pm How nice that, ironic or not, insulting Palin is reduced to blatant sexism. Nice list of the worlds most important women. Just get over it. Continuing to insult Sarah Palin casts a shadow over a great victory of idealism and hope. Let us not forget that she was PICKED... for purely tactical reasons, we can assume. She did not seek out the job. Where's that change we all want so much?
Posted by Kam, Tuesday, November 18, 2008, 6:40 pm Mr. Gorman, I can't help but notice your list of "women throughout history" doesn't contain any with a political impact such as Golda Meir, Margaret Thather, Bhuto, Clinton, Perez. The only historical comparisons you make are women known to men as sexual symbols. I don't believe that Palin ran as a playboy bunny, but obviously you saw her as such. Perhaps the main prejudice in America is not race but gender, where the men think they are so much more intelligent than the women, especially if the woman is attractive. You may not think so much of Palin but she governs the physically largest state in the union, and I feel quite safe to write that you do not. Assuming that you could get elected by the ole men's club, I would bet that you could not qualify to run a small island.
Posted by Lou, Tuesday, November 18, 2008, 7:18 pm She is America. This woman is every wife to any man. This is the woman we men go to war for and more...!!! She is stunning, capable, knowledgable and a true keeper of the American way of life. Give her credit for a fresh and honest way of life in these United States. You Go Girl...!!! I have your back 24/7, AM & PM, AM & FM...!!!!
Posted by Rachel, Tuesday, November 18, 2008, 11:04 pm Ok, guys, let's not get carried away. She's still ignorant and dangerous and has no place in national politics, but let her write her book in peace.
Posted by tom, Wednesday, November 19, 2008, 7:48 am palinmoron.com
Posted by rayy, Wednesday, November 19, 2008, 10:08 am I suspect it will be as self-serving as Hillary Clinton's bio, but probably not as well-written.
Posted by harrietm, Wednesday, November 19, 2008, 1:11 pm For the first time in my life, I see the good side of book burning, and I even understand why Palin wanted to ban library books (she didn't do it, but she DID want to).
Posted by Michael J. Gorman, Wednesday, November 19, 2008, 2:11 pm Kam, I was going to say that in your list of important women (unlike my favorite sex symbols), you forgot that great font of insightful knowledge, feminist dissident Camille Paglia. However, to my dismay, Paglia actually likes and admires Sarah Palin -- so I hereby remove Paglia from the "thinking female column" and throw her into the "hotties-with-no-brains" column. Incidentally, of those women you listed, only Golda Mier gets my admiration. However, I would include (among many others) Eleanor Roosevelt, Dorothy Day, Oprah Winfrey, and the ironically named Chief of the Cherokee Nation, Wilma Mankiller.
Posted by Jan, Thursday, November 20, 2008, 6:18 am Where can I reserve my copy?
Posted by John, Thursday, November 20, 2008, 2:21 pm Is it going to be a pop-up book?
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