ABC said to win Michelle O. chase
T HE buzz
in the publishing world is that Disney’s ABC Network has snagged the first sitdown interview with Michelle Obama upon the publication of her memoir “Becoming,” which hits bookstores on Nov. 13.
A spokeswoman for the Crown imprint of Penguin Random House said, “We have no information to share with you at this time.” ABC had not returned an inquiry by press time.
NBC’s “Today” show has Obama booked for an appearance on Oct. 11, but it is tied to the International Day of the Girl celebration — not the upcoming book.
Also under wraps is how many books will be on the market, but it’s expected to be a massive number. Michelle and former President Obama reportedly signed a record-shattering $65 million dual book deal for the separate memoirs.
Meanwhile, Michelle Obama has been drawing criticism for the sky-high prices for her book tour, which is being compared to a Beyoncé tour in major arenas across the country.
Critics said the prices for the tour appeared to be shutting out many of the people who were supposedly going to be empowered by the memoir describing her rise from humble roots to trial lawyer and then on to first lady in the White House.
The book tour is being managed by Live Nation, which said it will donate 10 percent of all proceeds from the tour to charities.
By Thursday, most of the tickets in the $30 price range had been sold.
Her debut book tour in her hometown of Chicago had only premium tickets available with prices ranging from $950 to $2,750 for a Premium Meet and Greet at the United Center on Nov. 13.
On Dec. 19, Brooklyn’s Barclays Center will start selling tickets for $856 to $3,000 for the Premium Meet and Greet.
Code Red(book)
Hearst watchers are said to be worried about Redbook.
In the glory days of the magazine world, there was a core group of women’s service magazines known as the Seven Sisters and Redbook was a stalwart member.
But the ranks have thinned and some are speculating that the 115-year-old Redbook will be the third sister to stop regular print publication.
The now-defunct Gruner + Jahr USA created the first casualty when it handed McCall’s to Rosie O’Donnell, who repositioned it as Rosie, which crashed in 2002 amid acrimonious lawsuits between the company and the talk show host.
Meredith stopped publishing the monthly Ladies’ Home Journal in 2014.
A year ago, Meredith Rollins was out as editor-inchief of Redbook and Jane Francisco, who was editorin-chief of Good Housekeeping and the editorial director of the woman’s lifestyle group that also included Woman’s Day, was put in charge. The editor-in-chief job has remained vacant. Francisco could not be reached for comment at press time.
Jury hijinks
The wire fraud and corruption trial of sneaker company executives involved in the NCAA basketball recruiting scandal had a humorous aside from the publishing world tied to a documentary from Dan Klores entitled “Basketball: A Love Story.”
Among those in the jury pool at federal court in Manhattan Monday was Julie Cepler, who is handling the marketing for the accompanying oral history book from Crown.
“When they asked if anyone had any connections to the industry,” she said she was handling the marketing for the book,” said freelance journalist Kevin Armstrong, who was covering the trial. The judge asked her if she could be fair and impartial. “She said she could,” he said. Later, when jurors asked if there were any hardships to serving, she mentioned her young twins. “To my knowledge, she was released from the jury,” said Armstrong, who had covered sports for the Daily News before its recent downsizing.
The trial of two former Adidas executives, Jim Gatto and Merl Code, and sports agent Christian Dawkins on charges of wire fraud and conspiracy got under way Tuesday. But Cepler might still be in the wider jury pool. She had not returned our calls by press time.