According to Media Bistro’s Galleycat, Vogue writer Dara-Lynn Weiss has scored a book deal with Random House’s Ballantine imprint for a controversial memoir about helping her seven-year-old daughter lose weight. The deal sprang from an AprilVogue piece that the Jezebel has dubbed “The Worst Vogue Article Ever.”

What do you think? Here is an excerpt from the essay: “I cringe when I recall the many times I had it out with Bea over a snack given to her by a friend’s parent or caregiver … rather than direct my irritation at the grown-up, I often derided Bea for not refusing the inappropriate snack. And there have been many awkward moments at parties, when Bea has wanted to eat, say, both cookies and cake, and I’ve engaged in a heated public discussion about why she can’t.”

The new book has the tentative title, The Heavy. David Kuhn from Kuhn Projects negotiated the deal with Marnie Cochran. The publisher described the book as “an experience that epitomizes the modern parenting ‘damned if you do/damned if you don’t’ predicament.”

According to THE HUFFINGTON POST Elton John is writing his first book, a personal account of the AIDS crisis.

The musician says “Love is the Cure: Ending the Global Aids Epidemic” will include memories of friends who died of AIDS-related illnesses, including Queen frontman Freddie Mercury.

British publisher Hodder & Stoughton says the book will be published in July along with an audio book read by the British pop star. The U.S. publisher is Little, Brown.

Proceeds will go to the Elton John’s AIDS Foundation.

John said Monday the book would ask why more is not being done to cure the disease.

He said AIDS “is a disease that must be cured not by a miraculous vaccine, but by changing hearts and minds, and through a collective effort to break down social barriers.”

According to the New York Observer, James Franco is publishing a novel through book selling powerhouse Amazon. The book is called Actors Anonymous and was acquired by Amazon’s fiction editor Ed Park from Mr. Franco’s agent, Richard Abate.

The novel is  said to be a fictionalized version of Mr. Franco’s experiences as an actor (and grad student?). Mr. Franco’s first book, a collection of short stories called Palo Alto, was published by Scribner.

According to the Daily Mail, Pippa Middleton just signed a six-figure book deal with Penguin about being the perfect hostess.

Pippa, 28, has told friends she signed the deal last week and will not be employing a ghost writer. She has been setting aside several hours a day to draft chapters.

‘Pippa says it’s a nerve-racking prospect but she is looking forward to the challenge of writing her first book,’ said a friend. ‘She had to deliver a synopsis that was sent to a number of publishers under a strict confidentiality agreement. There were some serious offers, but Penguin stumped up the most cash.

‘It will be about entertaining and how to throw the perfect party. It’s not just about being the perfect hostess – it will also include recipes and information about how to host different types of events.

‘Pippa has been sketching out the chapters and has decided to start each one with an amusing anecdote.’

Pippa has the full backing of sister Kate, who thinks the idea is ‘brilliant’. As a professional party planner for London-based events company Table Talk, she is in the perfect position to write about  hosting parties.

No word yet on when we can expect to see this book on US shelves but I’m sure it won’t be long.

According to GalleyCat, Levi Johnston has just signed a book deal with Simon & Schuster. Here are the details:

Levi Johnston, the man catapulted into the public spotlight after he fathered a child with Bristol Palin, has inked a book deal with Simon & Schuster’s Touchstone imprint. Deer in the Headlights: My Life in Sarah Palin’s Crosshairs will be published this fall.

Sterling Lord Literistic agent Robert Guinsler negotiated the deal with senior editor Matthew Benjamin. Touchstone publisher Stacy Creamer called it “a sweet and funny book with a touch of irony.”

Johnston had this statement in the release: “I want to tell the truth about my close relationship with the Palins… my sense of Sarah, and my perplexing fall from grace–how I feel and what I’ve learned. I’m doing this for me, for my boy Tripp and for the country.”

 

Mindy Kaling from The Office

Entertainment Weekly- The Office fans have further reason to smile today. In addition to being a few hours away from the new episode “Secretary’s Day,” Random House’s Crown imprint has announced plans to release a book  by Mindy Kaling in fall 2011. Kaling plays the boy crazy yet lovable Kelly Kapoor, who often steals scenes with her ridiculously inappropriate office behavior (lying about being pregnant, performing as a member of the diva duo “Subtle Sexuality”). She is also co-executive producer ofThe Office and has written 18 episodes of the show over the course of its six seasons.

Titled The Contents of My Purse, Kaling’s collection of comic essays will detail moments from a woman’s life, including everything from relationships to fashion. Crown describes Kaling’s collection as a mix between Kaling’s own blog Things I Bought That I Love and Nora Ephron’s popular Broadway play Love,  Loss, and What I Wore. (Kaling appears to be a fan of Ephron’s, signing her blog posts “Mindy Ephron” and listing the writer-director’s You’ve Got Mail as her favorite film). Kaling took to her Twitter account earlier today to describe the book in her own words: “My book will be essays and personal anecdotes, pictures, fashion, and general opinionated bossiness about how women should live” and “My book will be about being over 30 and settling. ‘Find the Right in Mr. Wrong.’”

With a deal to write and star in a new NBC comedy, as well as being in the process of writing her first feature-length film, The Low Self-Esteem of Lizzie Gillespie, Kaling is poised to become a new version of Ephron for the ’10s. Her rabid fan base (which includes over 1 million Twitter followers) revels in her quirky thoughts and silly comments, as well as smart criticism on the portrayal of women in film and television (“NO MORE TYPE A PERSONALITY WOMEN IN ROMANTIC COMEDIES WHO HAVE TO LEARN TO PUT THEIR CAREER ASIDE TO FIND TRUE LOVE”). 

The success of female comedic authors like Chelsea Handler, and the popularity of The Office and Kaling herself, leads me to believe that The Contents of My Purse will be a surefire hit, or at the very least an enjoyable read. I’m already planning on pre-ordering. What do you think, Shelf Lifers? Interested in reading Kaling’s book? Or are you holding out for Dwight Schrute’s Memoirs from a Beet Farm?

Maxim.com senior editor Justin Halpern sold his popular Twitter postings–turned–book, Shit My Dad Says, to Kate Hamill at It Books, who took world English rights at auction. The collection of gruff, funny and sometimes sneakily heartfelt musings from the author’s 73-year-old dad got Halpern an online audience of more than 300,000 as well as press hits from papers like the Wall Street Journal and L.A. Times. Agent Byrd Leavell of the Waxman Agency said the book, slated to pub next Father’s Day, will also feature “longer stories in a David Sedaris, Chelsea Handler vein.”

{image via getty images}

According to The New York Observer:

John McCain’s 24-year-old daughter Meghan has a book deal! Sources say Hyperion has prevailed over at least three other publishers in an auction that began earlier this week, following a round of meetings during which the in-your-face young conservative and the literary agent she shares with her father, Sterling Lord Literistic president Flip Brophy, discussed a number of possible approaches to the book with editors around town.

Several sources said the advance Ms. McCain will receive from Hyperion, which is owned by the Disney Company, is in the high six figures.

While we haven’t quite nailed down what Ms. McCain’s book will be about—no one at Hyperion nor Ms. Brophy returned calls this afternoon—if her recent columns for Tina Brown and Barry Diller’s Web site The Daily Beast are any indication, it will probably have something to do with the future of the Republican party, and how it must change to attract the votes of modern young people.

Ms. McCain has flexed her essayist muscles on The Beast in pieces like Why Republicans Don’t Get the Internet and Looking for Mr. Far Right. Mostly, she’s used the site to wage a few battles, as in My Beef With Ann Coulter and her response to Laura Ingraham’s jibe about her being a ‘plus-sized model’, headlined, Quit Talking About My Weight, Laura Ingraham. She’s also used it to prop up some friends, like Louisana’s First Lady Supriya Jindal and G.O.P. “hottie” Aaron Schock.

This will be Ms. McCain’s second book. Her first, a biographical picture book about her father entitled My Dad, John McCain, was published last September through the Alladin imprint of Simon & Schuster.

According to the New York Times, Audrey Niffenegger has sold a new manuscript for close to $5 million, according to people with knowledge of the negotiations. It is an especially significant sum at a time of retrenchment and economic uncertainty in the publishing world. It has been six years since the publication of her blockbuster best-selling novel, “The Time Traveler’s Wife.”

According to two publishing officials, Little, Brown and Company will release a book of humorous essays by Tina Fey. Her many writing credits include “30 Rock” and “Saturday Night Live,” and the feature film “Mean Girls.”

The officials asked not to be identified, citing the confidentiality of negotiations, and declined to give financial details Friday. Little, Brown spokeswoman Heather Rizzo did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The deal was first reported Friday by The New York Observer. Here is the Huffington Post piece on this deal.