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  • From: Gene GeRue <genegerue AT ruralize.com>
  • To: homestead AT lists.ibiblio.org
  • Subject: Re: [Homestead] Enjoy the quiet while it lasts...
  • Date: Thu, 11 Sep 2008 18:53:52 -0500


On Sep 11, 2008, at 4:18 PM, Lynda wrote:

As to his book deal. He was 28, a second year law student and because of
his race gets written up in the news. A literary agent writes HIM (hey,
Gene, how often do literary agents going knocking on doors offering
contracts to nobodies who have never written anything but some commentary in
student law journal?) and asks him to send her a book proposal.

Well, literary agents come in all flavors, some highly experienced, some learning the trade up from the bottom. Until they have clients they don't make dollars. So, the agent here was likely a novice looking for clients. I have no idea why he came to the agent's attention.

He gets a contract to write about RACE RELATIONS (Poisidon Press) and then fails to
meet his deadline. The agent gets him another contract with another publishing house (Time Books) AND a $40,000 advance for a book on RACE
RELATIONS. Doesn't make that deadline and gets an extention and then turns in a memoir. Nice "work" if you can get it but not my idea of WORK!

Nice work indeed. I credit him for not taking the easy route and writing about race relations. For the final publisher to accept his memoir proposal says a lot for the proposal. We know he is not your ordinary guy. He must have written a compelling proposal. He does have a compelling story. The agent and the publisher recognized the potential.

That said, most books fail to sell enough books to pay the advance. I don't know the sales history of his first book but, if it ran as typical, the first printing did not sell out and went to remainders. Only after he gained more attention would it likely become a good seller.

Lynda, do you happen to know the time correlation between his book and his Harvard Law Review editorship?

Well, I decided to look it up. This is what Wikipedia has:

"Obama entered Harvard Law School in late 1988 and at the end of his first year was selected as an editor of the Harvard Law Review based on his grades and a writing competition.[18] In his second year he was elected president of the Law Review, a full-time volunteer position functioning as editor-in-chief and supervising the law review's staff of 80 editors.[19] Obama's election in February 1990 as the first black president of the Harvard Law Review was widely reported and followed by several long, detailed profiles.[19] He graduated with a Juris Doctor(J.D.) magna cum laude from Harvard in 1991 and returned to Chicago where he had worked as a summer associate at the law firms of Sidley & Austin in 1989 and Hopkins & Sutter in 1990.[18][20]
"The publicity from his election as the first black president of the Harvard Law Review led to a contract and advance to write a book about race relations.[21] In an effort to recruit him to their faculty, the University of Chicago Law School provided Obama with a fellowship and an office to work on his book.[21] He originally planned to finish the book in one year, but it took much longer as the book evolved into a personal memoir. In order to work without interruptions, Obama and his wife, Michelle, traveled to Bali where he wrote for several months. The manuscript was finally published as Dreams from My Father in mid-1995.[21]"

Okay, so now it all makes much more sense. At the time he got the book contract he was already "the first black president of the Harvard Law Review," which would be instant publicity.

So, knowing all this, I would say that he earned what he got: the editorship of the Harvard Law Review and the book contract. The editorship is a high honor not awarded lightly. He earned it. No small feat.







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