Robert Barnett

Suzy Welch, wife of former General Electric chairman Jack Welch, has sold world rights to a book about decision-making to Nan Graham at the Simon & Schuster imprint Scribner, it was announced today.

The New York Times first reported the deal this morning, noting that Ms. Welch will be edited by Scribner's Samantha Martin.

Titled 10-10-10, the book will be Ms. Welch's second, though her first, 2005's bestselling Winning, was co-written with her husband.

Washington lawyer Robert Barnett, who has recently brokered massive book deals for political heavyweights Karl Rove, Ted Kennedy, and Tony Blair, represented Ms. Welch in the deal. Mr. Barnett would not comment on the size of the advance Ms. Welch received--publishing insiders said it was rumored to be in the neighborhood of $1 million--but said there was already "strong foreign interest" from publishers abroad looking to acquire rights.  read more »

After weeks of speculation, it's finally official: Karl Rove's memoirs will be published by Threshold Editions, the conservative-minded imprint of Simon & Schuster's Pocket Books overseen by GOP strategist Mary Matalin.

Earlier this week, Mr. Rove and his representative in the deal, DC lawyer Robert Barnett, were deciding between Threshold and Free Press, another imprint of Simon & Schuster.

In the press release announcing the deal, Mr. Rove is quoted as saying, "I look forward to writing about my role in George W. Bush's campaigns and in his consequential and contentious Presidency. The book will be a candid, careful look at how he got there and what his Administration did once in office. It will tackle and shed light on important events and big controversies, spell out their implications for America and set the record straight."

Naturally, the announcement made no mention of how much Threshold is paying Mr. Rove for the book, but you can be sure there will be plenty of guessing in the next few days.

The reason Karl Rove's memoirs do not have a publisher a full week after the auction ended last Wednesday is that Mr. Rove and his representative, DC lawyer Robert Barnett, want to meet with the editors who are pursuing the book and are running into scheduling difficulties because of the holidays, according to a publishing source who would not speak for attribution.

Mr. Rove wants to ask questions about their intentions regarding promotion, timing, editing, etc.--questions he has already asked in prior meetings, but is revisiting now that he's faced with a decision.

Because the holiday season is so busy, the source said, meetings have been hard to arrange.

As previously reported, Mr. Rove is considering two imprints, both of which are part of Simon & Schuster: Threshold Editions, a conservative shop run by GOP strategist Mary Matalin, and Free Press, which used to be aggressively conservative but has since refashioned itself as a general interest operation.

Reached for comment this morning, Mr. Barnett said, "Mr. Rove is taking the time to make an informed decision."  read more »

“I get these deals because of the client and the book, not because of me. I may facilitate putting the client with the right publishing house and the right editor, I may conduct a negotiation which results in the client getting the best deal available … but ultimately it’s the client and the book that gets the deal, not me.  read more »

Karl Rove is in New York today shopping a book proposal to editors, according to two publishing sources, including one executive who is meeting with Mr. Rove during his visit. According to the sources, President Bush's former political guru is being represented by Washington D.C. lawyer Robert Barnett, who has previously brokered huge book deals for political figures like Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama, Tony Blair, and Alan Greenspan.  read more »

Knopf has won the rights to publish Tony Blair's memoirs, a Random House source said. The Blair book was the subject of an intense auction; D.C. lawyer and literary agent Robert Barnett represented Mr. Blair, and has also represented both Bill Clinton and Alan Greenspan. No word yet on the Blair advance, but we'll update you.

UPDATE: A press release from Random House announcing the deal went out this afternoon. UK rights for the book went to Hutchinson, which is part of the Random House Group.

In an interview this afternoon, Knopf editor Ash Green said he was surprised that Knopf prevailed in the auction.

“I thought Rupert Murdoch would get it,” he said. “Because Murdoch for ten years supported Blair through his newspapers, and he has the Sunday Times first serialization, and he has HarperCollins, that seemed to be a natural fit. Our English cousins have strong connections to Blair, but I didn’t think they quite equaled... I think there was some wonder here whether the agent was using us as a stalking horse to get Murdoch’s price up."

Yesterday, Alpha Media Group--the name for the investors backed by Quadrangle Capital Partners who bought Maxim, Blender and Stuff from Dennis Publishing yesterday for more than $240 million--announced plans to fold Stuff, the shopping-centered T&A men's magazine, and resurrect it as a regular section in its lad mag, Maxim.

Maxim and Blender will be the chief beneficiaries of the new owners' money and time from now on, with plans to increase the rate-base for Blender, the music and lifestyle magazine, to 1 million by January 2009.

Maxim will get "Stuff for Men" as a section of the magazine, now that the title no longer has to compete with FHM magazine, the other lad-shopping mag.

Click "Read More" for more of today's media headlines.  read more »