Clinton to publish memoirs in June

Former US President Bill Clinton is set to publish his memoirs – called My Life – in late June, it has been announced.

Promotion will begin a few weeks earlier with a speech at BookExpo America, the industry’s annual convention.

“It is the fullest and most nuanced account of a presidency ever written, and one of the most revealing and remarkable memoirs I have ever had the honour of publishing,” said Sonny Mehta, president and editor-in-chief of Alfred A Knopf.

“He talks with candour about his successes, as well as his setbacks, looking at both his career in public service and his life.”

Clinton reportedly received a reported $12m (€10m) for the book.

Knopf is planning a first printing of 1.5 million, a realistic number given the success of Living History, the memoirs of his wife, Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton.

Nearly 1.7 million copies of the hardcover of Living History are in print and a 525,000 first printing was announced for the paperback, which just came out.

If the former president should fail to sell more books than the first lady, he won’t be alone.

Memoirs by Gerald Ford and Ronald Reagan both proved less popular than those written by their wives.

No precise date has been set for the book, which Clinton is still completing. Details on the book’s length, cover and promotional tour are also being worked out.

One event has been scheduled: Clinton will speak at BookExpo America, which takes place in Chicago from June 3-6.

Then-first lady Hillary Rodham Clinton spoke at BookExpo in 1995.

Like Bob Woodward’s Plan of Attack and Richard Clarke’s Against All Enemies, Clinton’s book will likely make its way into the presidential campaign, especially if the former president defends his record on fighting terrorism.

The book was edited by Robert Gottlieb, who has worked with such Pulitzer Prize winners as Robert Caro, Toni Morrison and Katharine Graham.

But it will be an admittedly hurried production, with Knopf having just two months to convert the manuscript into a finished book, a process that often takes several months.