Amy Schumer Jokes Her Way Into A Book Deal
Funny girl extraordinaire Amy Schumer is about to add a brand spankin’ new title to her résumé: author.
Sunday, at the 67th annual Emmy Awards, Schumer walked away with the award for Outstanding Variety Sketch Series for her Comedy Central show Inside Amy Schumer. Now, she’s walking away with a very lucrative book deal. Of course, lucrative means a seven-figure deal.
Schumer, with help from her agent David Kuhn of Kuhn Projects, sent copies of a collection of obviously hilarious essays to multiple publishing houses for review. Rumor has it that the essays included material on Schumer’s childhood, how she broke into comedy, her family, and feminism. A non-disclosure agreement was signed before they could read the watermarked material, and a bid had to be placed before they could even meet with Schumer. Rumor has it that the book was sold at auction, and Schumer has received a bid of an amount between $8 and $10 million dollars, with around a $5 million advance, but the publishing company — and Schumer’s camp — are keeping it on the down low. The purchase price puts her between J. K. Rowling’s The Casual Vacancy, at $8 million, and Bill Clinton’s My Life, at $15 million.
Schumer, if published, will join the ranks of other successful comediennes who have written books — for example, Tina Fey, Amy Poehler, and Mindy Kaling. The likely front-runner for publishing houses is Penguin Random House, who published Kaling’s book, Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me?, as well as Lena Dunham’s Not That Kind of Girl.
It’s no surprise Schumer has decided to write a book. She has risen to Hollywood A-list status due to her many endeavors. Her successful rom-com, Trainwreck, has grossed over $135 million worldwide, and she has another movie in the making — co-written by Jennifer Lawrence — in which the duo play sisters. In fact, Schumer and Lawrence even boogied together on Billy Joel’s piano [yes, his piano] at his August show in Chicago. Her Comedy Central show, Inside Amy Schumer, is getting more press attention than ever. Her first HBO special, Amy Schumer: Live at the Apollo premieres on October 17. Oh, and she just won an Emmy.
However, bidding for Schumer’s book was due before she won the Emmy, meaning that the win didn’t even factor into the sale. The lucky house who snagged it is most likely expecting a huge return on their investment. Which, given Schumer’s well-earned publicity, is a done deal.
[Photos by Mark Davis and Vittorio Zunino Celotto / Getty Images]
