After 8 years spent in office avoiding the media, former vice president Dick Cheney has opted to put his life in print in a deal reportedly worth more than $2 million.
Simon & Schuster is set to publish Cheney’s memoir in the spring of 2011, just months after former President George W. Bush’s book is due out.

Labels: Dick Cheney, George Bush, politicians

Beacon Press plans to publish four books that have been long out of print by the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.

Labels: Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

I’m not calling him the black sheep, but George Obama isn’t exactly the Harvard-educated family man who’s running our country right now. And Barack Obama’s half-brother certainly will have a different story to tell when his book comes out next January.

George, 27, the youngest of seven children, has only met Barack twice in his life. He lives in Kenya and was in the news most recently for being arrested on suspicion of marijuana possession.

George’s memoir, tentatively called Homeland, will detail his fall into crime and poverty as a teen and his rise up in community organizing and advocacy for the poor.

"Even had George Obama not been our President's half brother, his story is moving and inspirational," Simon & Schuster publisher and VP David Rosenthal said. "It is an object lesson in survival, selflessness and courage."

According to one source, George’s story was worth six figures to Simon & Schuster – a lot of money for a man who reportedly lives in a shack and earns a dollar a day.


Previous Post: scan Scribd for popular reads

Labels: Barack Obama, George Obama, Homeland

If you’re not so keen on the Kindle, Simon & Schuster will soon have 5,000 digital books for sale on Scribd.com, including selections from Stephen King, Dan Brown and Mary Higgins Clark. Readers will also be able to peak at the pages of thousands of books before they buy the print versions.

The books will be sold for 20% off the list price, and you’ll be able to transfer them to devices like the Sony Reader and some mobile phones, but not to Amazon’s Kindle.

While Amazon sets the price for its e-books and only gives publishers up to 50% of revenue, Scribd gives publishers much more control over the sale of their books. Publishers will be able to see what’s selling and change prices accordingly. And Scribd gives publishers 80% of revenue.

The site is working on building its library, according to Trip Adler, Scribd’s chief executive. “This is the first public endorsement by a major force in publishing that the social web will play a major role in the future of book sales,” Adler said.

And for all you iPhone fanatics out there, Scribd’s working on a reading application for the iPhone, which should be done in a few weeks.

Side note: Scribd isn’t just for leisure reading, it’s also a great site for nosey Nancies! I just found a copy of the State Department’s espionage case against former State Department official Walter Kendall Myers and his wife, Gwendolyn Steingraber. Take a peak!

Previous Post: the real slumdog story

Labels: iPhone, Kindle, Mary Higgins Clark, Scribd, Simon Schuster, Stephen Kind

9-year-old Slumdog star Rubina Ali plans to write a memoir about her life (all 9 years of it!) growing up in India. Ali played an orphan in the Oscar-winning movie Slumdog Millionaire, and last month Mumbai authorities demolished her shantytown home in an effort to get rid of illegal slums.

Labels: Slumdog Millionaire