Bristol Palin resorts to giving away copies of her memoir

The budding writing career of Bristol Palin, the daughter of the former Alaska governor Sarah Palin, appears to have fallen on desperate times after an advert promising free copies of her memoir to those who join her at a booksigning event was posted on a classified advertising website.

"Please join Bristol Palin and her ghostwriter Nancy French in a special book signing!" the advert posted on Craigslist implored. "We're welcoming folks of all ages to join Bristol as she promotes her best selling memoir Not Afraid Of Life – My Journey So Far."

As if the promise of meeting Ms Palin, 21, at the event at the Books-A-Million store in Washington DC today was not tempting enough, the advert offered an incentive to the first 100 people to send their ticket request – a free copy of Ms Palin's first tome.

Ms Palin attracted intense media attention when she became pregnant at the age of 18 during her mother's 2008 campaign for the vice-presidency as running-mate for Republican candidate John McCain. She courted the limelight in 2010 as a contestant on the TV series Dancing With The Stars, coming third. More recently, as her fame dwindles, she has carved out a career as a vocal advocate for the prevention of teenage pregnancy. In the book, released last summer to critical reviews, Ms Palin recounts her time in the media spotlight but her relationship with her mother and the McCain family plays second fiddle to acerbic segments about her baby's father, Levi Johnston.