$1.9 million, 3-book deal:
Leveraging his best-selling memoir, Sen.-elect Barack Obama (D-Ill.) is poised to sign a three-book deal landing him a $1.9 million advance.
The package includes a $200,000 payment for a children's volume that will be donated to charity [...]
Judith Haut, a spokesman for the publisher, said Obama will be "using his life story" to "illustrate important life lessons." The book is being inspired by one of Obama's famous lines from the keynote address he delivered at last summer's Democratic National Convention, where he described himself as "the skinny young kid with big ears and the funny name." [...]
The big book deal may help relieve Obama of some financial concerns. Obama said at the end of July that he had taken out a second mortgage and was worried whether his Senate salary of $158,100 a year would be enough.
Money problems out of the way, Obama can focus on being the best Senator in D.C.