The Obamas Sign Record-Breaking Book Deal with Penguin Random House

After a heated tug-of-war between multiple publishers, Penguin Random House announced they will be publishing multiple books by former POTUS Barack Obama and former First Lady Michelle Obama. Though the exact financial amount was not officially disclosed, the Financial Times reported the joint deal was signed for more than $65 million—a record-breaking sum for a post-presidential memoir. Former president Bill Clinton reportedly sold his memoir My Life for more than $10 million, and George W. Bush earned around that same amount for his memoir Decision Points.

Barack Obama has previously published the best-selling books Dreams from my Father, The Audacity of Hope and Of Thee I Sing, and Michelle Obama has published a book, American Grown, about the White House gardens. The chief executive of Penguin Random House Markus Dohle said the following in a statement:

We are absolutely thrilled to continue our publishing partnership with President and Mrs. Obama. With their words and their leadership, they changed the world, and every day, with the books we publish at Penguin Random House, we strive to do the same. Now, we are very much looking forward to working together with President and Mrs. Obama to make each of their books global publishing events of unprecedented scope and significance.

Titles and release dates are not yet available, and we know very little about the content of the books, except they will focus around the Obamas’ time in the White House. A publishing official told the Associated Press that Barack’s will be more of a straightforward memoir, while Michelle’s will draw more from her personal life story. The Obamas plan on donating a large portion of their earnings to the Obama Foundation and other charities.

Hopefully the release dates will be announced soon, because frankly, we could really use an Obama memoir or two right now. In the meantime, check out Paste’s “The Best Biden Obama Memes.”