For most American presidents, a massive book deal awaits as soon as they leave the Oval Office – the Obamas reportedly received $65 million for a series of books. But the publishing world seems to have no interested in supporting Donald Trump.
On Monday, Trump told Politico that he turned down “very substantial offers” from “two of the biggest and most prestigious publishing houses.” But Politico contacted the “Big Five” – Penguin Random House, Hachette Book Group, HarperCollins, Macmillan Publishers, and Simon & Schuster – and they all denied making Trump an offer.
“It doesn’t matter what the upside on a Trump book deal is, the headaches the project would bring would far outweigh the potential in the eyes of a major publisher,” Keith Urbahn, president and founding partner of Javelin, a literary and creative agency told Politico. “Any editor bold enough to acquire the Trump memoir is looking at a fact-checking nightmare, an exodus of other authors, and a staff uprising in the unlikely event they strike a deal with the former president.”
Many figures from Trump’s orbit have already signed lucrative book contracts, including Mike Pence, Kellyanne Conway, Sarah Huckabee Sanders, and William Barr.
“If my book will be the biggest of them all, and with 39 books written or being written about me, does anybody really believe that they are above making a lot of money? Some of the biggest sleezebags [sic] on earth run these companies,” Trump told Politico.
In recent years, a series of conservative publishers have emerged, although it’s unclear if they have the resources to make an offer on par with what high-profile figures receive from “The Big Five.”
Trump claims that he’s already at work on his book. He can always self-publish, although efforts at book promotion would be undermined by his social media ban.
