WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange claims he had to sell a memoir to raise funds to defend himself, telling the Times of London, "I don't want to write this book, but I have to. I have already spent [more than $300,000] for legal costs, and I need to defend myself and keep WikiLeaks afloat." Did anyone tell him how long it was going to take collect his advance?
Assange says Knopf is paying about $800,000 and Canongate is paying him approximately $500,000. He estimates that money from serialization and other territories will add another few hundred thousand dollars, though again it's not clear if agent Caroline Michel at PFD negotiated flow-through on those funds or explained when they might arrive.
Knopf's Paul Bogaards tells the WSJ, "We are very excited to be publishing this book. The work that Assange has been doing at WikiLeaks has tremendous importance around the world." He "expects the manuscript to be delivered at some point in 2011 but doesn't yet have a timetable for publication." We should note the irony that one Random House division is proudly publishing Assange, while another of the company's groups, Crown, is issuing the book from former WikiLeaks executive Daniel Domscheit-Berg on his "disenchantment with the organization's lack of transparency as well as the concentration of power by Assange." They are "excited to publish his gripping and eye-opening account."
AFP
WSJ
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