"A fact-checking nightmare": why Donald Trump cannot find a publisher for his memoirs
The former US president is trying to sign a publishing contract to publish his memoirs. If his former vice-president Mike Pence got a seven-figure contract, Donald Trump is unable to find one. A first in American political history.
Five months after he left the White House, former US President Donald Trump is not attracting major publishing houses. He claims to write a book and to have refused two contracts to publish his memoirs.
In reality, publishers aren't scrambling to publish Trump. This is a first in the history of American presidents, who usually have no difficulty in publishing their memoirs after their mandate. Especially since a book by Donald Trump recounting his four years in the White House would sell like hot cakes.
Mike Pence signs publishing deal and Donald Trump is very pissed off
It is all the more annoying for Donald Trump not to have a publisher as several people around him have book projects which are well advanced. This is the case of its former vice-president Mike Pence. He signed a seven-figure contract with the publisher Simon & Schuster for two books! According to the American press, Donald Trump would also be furious that Mike Pence had obtained such a contract. The ex-president then split a press release to silence the rumors about his anger tainted with jealousy:
"I turned down two editors' proposals. I'm writing like crazy now and when my book comes out it's going to be the best. But in reality, I'm working on a much bigger project right now."
Then he sharply attacked the publishing houses run by "the greatest Nazis that the earth has carried". Donald Trump therefore claims to have refused two contracts. Media Politico therefore investigated to find out more and contacted the five most important American publishers: Penguin Random House, Hachette Book Group, HarperCollins, Macmillan Publishers and Simon & Schuster. However, no one has heard of such a deal. And what's more, the world of leading publishing does not seem tempted by such an adventure.
Difficult to be sure of the veracity of the words
The problem for publishers who find themselves faced with a book by Donald Trump about his presidency is whether what is written and told is true? According to a publishing personality quoted anonymously by Politico:
“It would be difficult to have a book that really reflects reality. It would be problematic. If he can't even admit that he lost the election, how do you expect it to be published?
No matter what a book by Donald Trump would report, "the headaches caused by such a project would outweigh the financial potential of the book" according to Keith Urbahn, president of a literary agency interviewed by Politico.
"Any publisher brave enough to acquire the rights to Trump's memoir faces a fact-checking nightmare."
Donald Trump's role in the assault on Capitol Hill on January 6 and his obsession with peddling false information has made him a character to be avoided in the publishing world. Recently, publisher Simon & Schuster turned down a deal with Republican Senator Josh Hawley who disagreed with the January 6 Congressional vote confirming Joe Biden's victory.
The other authors might slam the door
Another risk taken in publishing Trump: that the authors already published by the publisher leave. This is already almost the case because of the deal signed by Mike Pence. Indeed, several authors have complained to the publisher, accusing it of "sectarianism".
Donald Trump wrote a dozen books published by nine different publishing houses before his presidency. And they sold well. The most famous, The Art of the Deal (Random House), remained on the New York Times bestseller lists for 13 weeks in 1987.
