Ouch: Biden Memoir Rights Reportedly Sell for Significantly Less Than Obama or Clinton
Ever stop and wonder what former President Joe Biden is doing with all his free time these days?
Aside from strolling on the beach, wrestling with folding chairs, and making a couple of speeches critical of his successor, Biden has done what most of his predecessors have done: landed a book deal.
The 46th president — or, rather, his representatives at Creative Artists Agency — negotiated an advance on his memoirs with Hachette’s Little, Brown & Co. “in the range of $10 million,” the Wall Street Journal reported.
That rather vague amount might sound pretty hefty to the average aspiring author.
But it pales in comparison to previous advances to former presidents.
In fact, the New York Post called the amount an “embarrassing blow” to Biden.
For example, Alfred A. Knopf publishers paid $15 million for “My Life,” former President Bill Clinton’s 2004 memoir.
And former President Barack Obama and his wife, Michelle, sold their story to Penguin Random House for a record-breaking $60 million in 2017.
President Donald Trump has published several books on business, most notably “The Art of the Deal,” but he did not publish a memoir after his first term.
“Presidents and their spouses routinely shop memoirs after their time at the White House,” The Wall Street Journal reported.
“Such books can provide a major source of income, and help the public figures frame their legacies.”
No publication date has been announced yet, but Biden was recently quoted as saying he is “working my tail off” on the book manuscript.
“Biden has hinted that the memoir will cover his four years as president,” the New York Post wrote. It will likely also touch on the eight years he served as vice president during the Obama administration.
Considering all the recent publicity concerning an apparent cover-up of Biden’s reported cognitive decline during his presidency, more than one person has raised questions about how an “elderly man with a poor memory” will assemble such a book.
“How does a man w/poor memory write a memoir?” one person asked on social media platform X. “Maybe they’ll call it ‘The Malarkey Memoir.’”
Have u heard…?
Hachette Book Group paid Joe Biden $10MILLION in advance to publish his memoir of his years as president. I have a question.🤔
How does a man w/poor memory write a memoir? Maybe they’ll call it “The Malarkey Memoir”
btw all other presidents got paid much more.— 🌹Bond…Eva Bond is back🌹 (@stiletoprincess) July 24, 2025
Former White House Press Secretary (during Trump’s first term) Sean Spicer was also skeptical.
“Joe Biden is reportedly getting a $10 million book advance (for a book he won’t write or likely read),” Spicer wrote in an X post.
Joe Biden is reportedly getting a $10 million book advance (for a book he won’t write or likely read)
To BREAK EVEN — they would have to sell a minimum of 350,000 copies
NOT. A. CHANCE.
— Sean Spicer (@seanspicer) July 24, 2025
“To BREAK EVEN — they would have to sell a minimum of 350,000 copies,” he observed, adding, “NOT. A. CHANCE.”
It’s unclear when or whether Biden will do a publicity tour for the book due to his health issues.
Biden announced earlier this year that he had been diagnosed with an aggressive form of prostate cancer.
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