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[Gene GeRue <genegerue AT ruralize.com>]

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.