vice president joe biden is thinking about writing a book. former attorney general eric holder recently sold one for seven figures. former homeland security secretary janet napolitano is shopping one, and trump campaign manager kellyanne conway has been fielding inquiries. but as publishers prepare to compete for a slew of political memoirs, all eyes are on the president and first lady. president barack obama <u+2019>s literary accomplishments are rare for a sitting president. his critically-acclaimed 1995 memoir, <u+201c>dreams from my father,<u+201d> won a grammy for best spoken-word album. so did his second, <u+201c>the audacity of hope,<u+201d> a book published in 2006 that discusses his time in the senate and his policy positions. each book has sold more than three million copies in print and e-books in the u.s., according to a publishing executive. michelle obama <u+2019>s talents as a memoirist are so far untested, but with a 59% approval rating, according to a recent wall street journal/nbc news poll, she is one of the most well-liked figures in american public life . the white house declined to comment on the obamas<u+2019> literary plans. the president has one book left on a contract with crown publishing group, his publishing home for more than a decade. it<u+2019>s not clear whether crown will publish the presidential memoir many expect him to write. crown re-released <u+201c>dreams from my father<u+201d> in 2004. a financial disclosure mr. obama made for 2004 shows he signed a $1.9 million contract with crown<u+2019>s parent company, random house inc., for three additional titles: a children<u+2019>s book for knopf (eventually published in 2010), and two nonfiction books for crown. one of those was <u+201c>the audacity of hope.<u+201d> mr. obama hasn<u+2019>t written the other. a separate financial disclosure statement the president filed for 2014 shows that he amended his agreement with crown in 2009. the new language allowed him more flexibility on when he would deliver the outstanding nonfiction book, whose subject was still to be determined. a crown spokesman declined to comment. the filing opens the possibility that mr. obama could sell a presidential memoir and separately deliver the outstanding book to crown at some later date. regardless, publishing executives said they expect crown will want to come to the table for his next book. <u+201c>would they let him go? never in a million years,<u+201d> said one editor who has acquired political books. senior executives at three major publishing houses each said they would be very interested in the prospect of publishing a presidential memoir by mr. obama. <u+201c>this is a book that will be read in 100 years,<u+201d> one editor said. mr. obama<u+2019>s presidential memoir likely won<u+2019>t be offered for sale until after he leaves office, publishing executives said. two publishing executives suggested that mr. obama could match the $15 million that alfred a. knopf paid for former president bill clinton <u+2019>s 2004 memoir, <u+201c>my life.<u+201d> that work went on to sell 2.9 million copies in all formats, according to knopf. aside from the obamas, publishers are eyeing current and former members of the obama administration , as well as political memoirs that could emerge from the presidential campaign. donald trump<u+2019>s daughter ivanka trump, who gained prominence as a key member of her father<u+2019>s presidential campaign, wrote a bestselling book in 2009 called <u+201c>the trump card.<u+201d> now she has a new one on the way: <u+201c>women who work,<u+201d> to be published by portfolio in march. it won<u+2019>t discuss politics. a juicy, behind-the-scenes book by a trump campaign insider would attract healthy bids, but some publishers said that was unlikely because of non-disclosure agreements and worries by staffers that they could hurt their chances for future work. that hasn<u+2019>t stopped publishers from trying. before he was ousted as mr. trump<u+2019>s campaign manager in june, corey lewandowski received a $1.2 million offer from harpercollins, according to a person familiar with the negotiations. mr. lewandowski didn<u+2019>t close the deal. (he later said his representative hadn<u+2019>t been authorized to negotiate a book deal on his behalf.) harpercollins is a unit of news corp , owner of the wall street journal. after mr. lewandowski was fired from the campaign, he approached harpercollins on his own to see if the publisher would reinstate its offer, according to the person familiar with the negotiations. harpercollins declined to reinstate the offer, in part because mr. lewandowski wouldn<u+2019>t show the publisher his non-disclosure agreement, but also because the political operative no longer had inside access to the campaign, the person said. mr. lewandowski denied that he had ever sought a deal. <u+201c>if i wanted a book deal, i would have signed a book deal by now,<u+201d> he said in a phone interview tuesday. <u+201c>i have chosen not to do that although i have had many offers to do a book since that time.<u+201d> donald trump<u+2019>s current campaign manager, ms. conway, said in an email she has received several <u+201c>inquiries/offers.<u+201d> <u+201c>i cannot think about this until after election day,<u+201d> she said. mr. biden is among the obama administration officials most likely to generate interest among publishers, despite the fact that his 2007 book, <u+201c>promises to keep,<u+201d> saw modest sales. one publisher<u+2014>noting the vice president<u+2019>s popularity and the moving way has spoken publicly about the death of his son<u+2014>estimated mr. biden could get $1 million for his next book. asked last week about his plans after leaving the white house, mr. biden said: <u+201c>i may write a book. this might disappoint you: it won<u+2019>t be a tell-all book.<u+201d> bernie sanders has a book coming out nov. 15, along with an audiobook narrated by the senator and the actor and activist mark ruffalo. mr. sanders wrote the book himself, without the help of a ghostwriter, in 10 weeks, according to a spokeswoman for thomas dunne books. in july, the random house imprint one world acquired a book by mr. holder, called <u+201c>pursuing justice,<u+201d> for more than $1 million, according to a person familiar with the negotiations. mr. holder will cowrite the book with pulitzer prize-winning former wall street journal reporter douglas blackmon. random house said mr. holder, who was the first african-american attorney general in the u.s., would write about the issues he faced in that office, including <u+201c>civil rights and civil liberties, finance and terrorism, and the crisis of mass incarceration.<u+201d> mr. holder didn<u+2019>t respond to a request for comment. his agent and random house declined to comment on the advance. two publishing executives said ms. napolitano was shopping a book. neither she nor her agent responded to a request for comment. samantha power, who won a pulitzer prize for her book, <u+201c>a problem from hell: america and the age of genocide,<u+201d> now serves as u.s. permanent representative to the united nations. one editor estimated that she could get as much as $500,000 for a book about the obama administration<u+2019>s foreign policy. ms. power <u+201c>has given little thought to her future plans,<u+201d> her spokesman said. <u+201c>she is focused on all that is left to do in the closing months of the administration.<u+201d> write to jennifer maloney at jennifer.maloney@wsj.com and jeffrey a. trachtenberg at jeffrey.trachtenberg@wsj.com
publishers poised to compete for obama books - wsj
jeffrey a. trachtenberg