Clinton's Memoirs Set to Hit Bookstores

Posted on June 11, 2004

Former President Bill Clinton's autobiography, My Life, is set to hit bookstores. My Life is an account of Clinton's life through the White House years. The book, published by Alfred A. Knopf, began with a first printing of 1.5 million copies. Clinton's book already needs a second printing, however, Knopf has not yet stated what the size of the second print run will be. Available June 22, the book is already a bestseller thanks to pre-orders. Clinton received a $10 million advance for the book.

The book has received wide coverage in the media and on book websites. A search on Google News brings up thousands of news stories about the upcoming book. My Life is already No. 1 on Amazon's and Barnes & Noble's online bestsellers lists.

"Bill Clinton tells an extraordinary story in My Life," said Sonny Mehta, President and Editor in Chief of Alfred A. Knopf. "It is a riveting personal drama as well as a fascinating look at the American political arena over the past four decades. He talks with candor about his successes and failures, looking at both his career in public service and his life. 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 honor of publishing."

Robert Gottlieb, who has worked with some of the most distinguished authors of our time, including Katharine Graham, Toni Morrison, Barbara Tuchman and Robert Caro, served as the President's editor at Knopf. "Working with President Clinton has been a privilege and a pleasure," Gottlieb said, "and his book is an astonishment -- authentic, engaging, revelatory."

My Life will be published by Hutchinson, an imprint of The Random House Group in the UK, and by Alfred A. Knopf, the flagship imprint of the Knopf Publishing Group, a division of Random House, Inc. in the US. Random House is owned by Bertelsmann AG, the international media company.