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Clinton's Memoirs to Fetch a Reported $10 Million
Former president Bill Clinton has agreed to write his much sought-after memoirs for Alfred A. Knopf, the publisher announced Monday. Terms were not disclosed, but he was expected to receive more than $10 million, according to The Washington Post ¡ª the largest advance for a nonfiction book in U.S. publishing history.
The book is expected to be out in 2003.
"President Clinton is one of the dominant figures on the global stage," Sonny Mehta, Knopf's president and editor in chief, said in a statement. "He has lived an extraordinary life, and he has a great story to tell."
Asked in a telephone interview whether the book would go into the Monica Lewinsky scandal, Mehta said: "All I know is I came away from my discussions with him feeling it was going to be a pretty thorough and candid telling of his life, and that he was going to talk about all the principal events of his presidency.
"The heart of the book is what you'd expect it to be. The heart of it will be his presidency."
Asked about the size of the advance, Mehta replied: "We're very comfortable with the price we agreed to."
The record advance for nonfiction was $8.5 million for worldwide rights to a book by Pope John Paul II in 1994.
Clinton's wife, Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, received an $8 million advance for her memoir.
Clinton's book will be edited by Robert Gottlieb, whose other authors have included Nobel laureate Toni Morrison, the late historian Barbara Tuchman and the late publisher Katharine Graham.
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