Fact-checkers are quaking in their boots amid reports that Donald Trump could be being “courted for a new tome on his time in the White House”. The Murdoch-owned tabloid the New York Post quoted a “source familiar with the president” on Tuesday, who claimed that Trump was “being bombarded with book and TV deals that could be worth a staggering $100m”.
To put that in context: Barack and Michelle Obama’s joint deal with Penguin Random House after they left the White House was reported to have been for more than $60m (£43.3m), then a record sum. Bill Clinton’s 2004 memoir netted him $15m, while George W Bush earned around $10m for his 2010 book Decision Points.
Even as another “top book source” asserted to the tabloid that suggestions of a $100m deal did not sound accurate, the New York Post claimed it had been told that book and TV deals were “plan B if [Trump] doesn’t win the vote war. Translate 70m votes into viewers and record book sales. All the anti-Trump books have made big bucks, so this from the Donald is a surefire hit.”
Trump’s 1987 memoir, The Art of the Deal, was ghostwritten by Tony Schwartz. Despite the outgoing president’s assertion that “I know words, I have the best words”, Schwarz has said: “I seriously doubt that Trump has ever read a book straight through in his adult life.” The ghostwriter has long disavowed the president, saying that The Art of the Deal would have been better titled The Sociopath.
Simon & Schuster was tipped as one possible publisher for a potential memoir, through its conservative imprint Threshold Editions. Hachette has previously published Donald Trump Jr through its conservative arm, Center Street. Center Street publisher Daisy Blackwell Hutton told the Associated Press earlier this week: “Books will be published for years to come about his presidency and the conservative movement in general, and Center Street absolutely intends to be a leader in that space.”
Any press signing a book deal with the president is unlikely to have an easy ride. Simon & Schuster was slammed by authors and readers when it signed up rightwing provocateur Milo Yiannopoulos, subsequently dropping him after he made comments about paedophilia during an internet live stream. More recently, Hachette cancelled its plans to publish Woody Allen’s memoir after a staff walkout. But books about the Trump administration – mostly by his critics (Michael Wolff, Mary Trump, Bob Woodward) and former staff (James Comey, Sean Spicer, Omarosa Manigault Newman) – have been guaranteed bestsellers for the last four years, though likely more popular among his critics.
Whether 70m votes means 70m book sales remains to be seen. But if no publisher will take him, Trump could follow the route taken by his son Donald Trump Jr, who self-published his last book, Liberal Privilege, in July. Unfortunately for Junior, without a publisher to help, he made a grammatical error in the subtitle and was roundly mocked for it.
