First Lady Laura Bush snagged a seven-figure deal to write her life story for the Scribner imprint of Simon & Schuster.
Bush is said to have received an advance of $1.6 million, according to one well-placed publishing source – although another source said it might have been “a little higher than that.”
The advance is said to be far below the $8 million that Hillary Clinton received from Simon & Schuster for “Living History,” which became a runaway bestseller, moving more than 2.5 million copies.
Instead, it’s more in line with memoirs penned by Nancy Reagan and mother-in-law Barbara Bush, both of whom are said to have received an advance of $2 million.
First Ladies often don’t get the biggest advances, but books by Nancy Reagan and Betty Ford, who revealed her addiction to alcohol and pain killers, far outsold their husbands’ memoir.
Robert Barnett, the high-powered Washington D.C.-based attorney who negotiated the deal for Laura Bush said that eight publishers had expressed interest, but he declined to comment on the size of the advance.
Several publishers, who did make the trek to the White House in mid-November for the presentations, said that the First Lady gave away very little about what a book would contain and that she seemed unwilling to discuss it further.
She has championed fairly safe causes, such as literacy and women’s rights in Afghanistan. Despite her husband’s low approval rating, she has remained popular with most Americans.
Susan Moldow, executive vice president and publisher of Scribner said, “As a rare witness to the private moments of one of our country’s most consequential presidencies, and as a First Lady who has maintained a notable level of discretion, her memoir will provide a candid and personal perspective and an enduring record, of the years that have already determined the course of the 21st century.”