Photo of Barack and Michelle Obama courtesy of Pete Souza.
After a huge bidding word that featured multiple big name publishers, Barack and Michelle Obama have sold the rights to their next books to Penguin Random House, according to a statement Penguin CEO Markus Dohlereleased to the Associated Press.
"We are absolutely thrilled to continue our publishing partnership with President and Mrs. Obama. With their words and their leadership, they changed the world, and every day, with the books we publish at Penguin Random House, we strive to do the same. Now, we are very much looking forward to working together with President and Mrs. Obama to make each of their books global publishing events of unprecedented scope and significance."
Penguin has published Obama's previous two bestselling books, Dreams from My Father and The Audacity of Hope.
Post-presidential memoirs are pretty standard. What is unique about this situation is the fact that the Obamas have a collective deal for their perspective memoirs. Details of the deal have not been officially announced, but according to a report in the Financial Times, the joint deal is rumored to be worth $60 million. To put that in some perspective, Bill Clinton signed a $15 million book deal in 2001. In 2010 George W. Bush signed a $7 million deal.
Glad to see the Obamas enjoy their time off. It's time to get back to work.
