Andre Agassi's $5 Million Book Deal

Posted on March 29, 2007

Andre Agassi has signed a book deal with Knopf with a reported $5 million advance, which is an amazing figure for a sports figures's memoir.

The winning bid is a world-rights deal with the Alfred A. Knopf imprint in hardcover and the Vintage trade paperback imprint, both owned by Random House Inc. Although terms were not disclosed, the $5 million that insiders say Agassi scored catapults him into an exclusive memoir club that includes former President Clinton, who got an estimated $12 million, former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan, who scored more than $8.5 million from Penguin Press, Hillary Clinton, who landed $8 million from Simon & Schuster, and Jack Welch, who got $7.1 million from TimeWarner Books (now a part of Hachette Books).
His deal is believed to be a champion among sports memoirs. In an unusual move, the winner was not the highest bidder. The top bid was believed to be $5.35 million, but Agassi agents Michael Carlyle and Richard Pine at InkWell opted to take an offer from Knopf, which was actually in fourth place after a week of fierce bidding that started at $4 million. HarperCollins, Simon & Schuster and Hachette's Warner 12 imprint were all jockeying for the lead in and around the $5 million to $5.35 million range. President Clinton, who also published with Knopf, was said to have urged Agassi to go with his imprint.
There is no timetable for the launch of the book, which would have to sell in excess of 500,000 copies to break even, one industry source estimated. The book is expected to cover Agassi's stormy marriage to Brooke Shields, his current one to tennis great Steffi Graf, as well as his work with underpriveleged youths at the Agassi College Preparatory Academy in Las Vegas.

"I recently had the privilege of meeting with top executives and editors from eight publishing houses," Agassi said in a statement. "Everyone was very impressive, but in the end, I felt the strongest connection with Sonny Mehta and his colleagues at Knopf."

Sonny Mehta, the chairman and editor in chief of Knopf said, "Andre Agassi is one of the world's most popular and admired figures. He has lived an extraordinary life, and he has a great story to tell -- an inspiring story of determination, competition, and what it takes to become one of the greatest athletes of our time. Additionally, he is someone who has chosen to use his success as an instrument for change in the world."

No release date has been set for the book, but you can bet that the publicity campaign will be huge. It will have to be, to make up for an advance of that size.