Former US president Joe Biden sells memoir for roughly $10 million, less than Obama and Clinton

His previous book was a No 1 bestseller, but the advance for former US president Joe Biden’s memoir doesn’t match those previous presidents have received.

Rights to Joe Biden's book have sold for a rumoured $10m, significantly less than was shelled out for memoirs by other US presidents Bill Clinton, top left, and Barack Obama. Pictures:

Former President Joe Biden has sold his presidential memoir to the Hachette Book Group for an advance in the range of $US10m, according to people familiar with the matter.

The memoir’s publisher, Hachette’s Little, Brown & Co., hasn’t yet set a publication date.

Biden, who is 82, said at an event earlier this month that he was “working my tail off” to write a memoir, and indicated that he would focus on the four years he served as president.

Presidents and their spouses routinely shop memoirs after their time at the White House.

Such books can provide a major source of income, and help the public figures frame their legacies.

Biden was represented by Creative Artists Agency, which sold Hachette worldwide rights for the book. CAA also represented Biden for his 2017 memoir “Promise Me, Dad: A Year of Hope, Hardship and Purpose.” The No. 1 bestseller told the story of Biden’s relationship with his oldest son, Beau, who died from brain cancer in 2015.

Spokeswomen for Hachette and CAA declined to comment. A representative for Biden declined to comment.

Former US President Joe Biden after speaking during an interfaith prayer service in New Orleans earlier this year. Picture: AP

Biden’s representatives said in May that the former president had been diagnosed with prostate cancer.

The illness was described in a statement from his personal office as a “more aggressive form of the disease,” but one that “appears to be hormone-sensitive which allows for effective management.” Biden’s health will likely determine the timeline for completing a manuscript and any book publicity plans.

Biden’s lengthy political career includes an eight-year term as vice president during the Obama administration and four years as president between January 2021 and January 2025.

Biden dropped out of the presidential race in late July 2024 in the face of concerns about his age and mental acuity. Some critics have said that timing contributed to Donald Trump’s presidential victory over Vice President Kamala Harris, whom Biden endorsed.

Penguin Random House acquired the rights to books by former US President Barack Obama and former first lady Michelle Obama in 2017 for a price that was widely reported at the time as being in the range of $US60m. President Trump didn’t publish a memoir after his first term in office. Alfred A. Knopf, which like Penguin Random House is owned by Bertelsmann, paid $US15m for President Bill Clinton’s 2004 memoir My Life.