Trump could be offered book and TV deals worth $100m as part of ‘Plan B’, report says

Second book source told newspaper estimates ‘don’t sound accurate’

President Donald Trump could be in the market for around $100m in book and TV deals following his departure from the White House, a report has said.

According to The New York Post, a source familiar with the President said: “Trump is being bombarded with book and TV deals that could be worth a staggering $100 million.”

The reports come amidst the president’s legal battle against the 2020 election, which he has not yet conceded to rival Joe Biden over baseless allegations of election fraud.

“Book and TV deals are plan-B if he doesn’t win the vote war,” the source reportedly told The Post.

“Translate 70 million votes into viewers and record book sales. All the anti-Trump books have made big bucks, so this from the Donald is a surefire hit.”

However, another book source struck down the original staggering deal estimate in conversation with the newspaper saying the numbers “don’t sound accurate.”

Former president Barack Obama and his wife, former first lady Michelle Obama, agreed to a reported $65 million deal with Crown in 2017, the Associated Press reported.

But several publishers told the AP that they don’t believe Mr Trump will have the same global appeal as Mr Obama. The former president’s new book A Promised Land is due to be released on 17 November.

Publisher’s signing with Mr Trump or a top administration official run the risk of facing widespread backlash from both the president’s critics, the public and the industry.

“Which publisher isn’t going to blink as they bid for this wild and toxic deal?!,” Sharmaine Lovegrove, Dialogue Books publisher, posted on Twitter in response to the reports.

“It was a very controversial presidency and the New York publishing world isn’t exactly packed with Trump fans,” Matt Latimer of the Javelin literary agency told AP.

“But there are tens of millions of Americans who look to the Trump presidency as an important time and are fans of his administration. At least some publishers will recognise that.”

The president has become on of the publishing world’s most thriving genres of the past four years and the source told The Post that working with the president may be an opportunity that some will not want to pass up.

“One publisher to watch is Simon & Schuster,” the book insider told the newspaper. “They published [Mr Trump’s] last book. CEO Jonathan Karp published several of his books there, and at Random House, and went to Trump’s wedding to Melania.”

Dana Canedy, senior vice president and publisher of Simon & Schuster told the AP that she “would apply the same rigorous approach to any meeting, with anyone, Democratic or Republican."

“I would have to see whether there’s an arc to the story, how deeply reported it would be, and that there would be fact-checking so we could be confident about it. And that’s whether Joe Biden was coming to me or Donald Trump was coming to me.”

In AP’s report, David Drake, executive vice president and publisher at Crown, declined to say whether they would sign Mr Trump or meet with him.

Reagan Arthur, executive vice president and publisher of Alfred A Knopf, expressed doubt that she would sign the president but said she may meet him out of respect.