Amazon Reportedly Paid $800,000 for Penny Marshall Memoir

By Jason Boog 

Amazon is paying sizable advances as it prepares to publish 122 books in the next few months. The New York Times reported that Amazon paid $800,000 for a memoir from Penny Marshall, the Laverne & Shirley star and director.

Amazon announced the deal last week at the Frankfurt Book Fair, and My Mother Was Nuts will come out this fall. Trident Media Group CEO Dan Strone negotiated the deal, working with Shelter Entertainment manager Alan Iezman.

Here’s more about the book, from the release: “Marshall opens up about her childhood and family, including her relationships with brother and early mentor Garry Marshall and sister Ronny. How a decision to move to Hollywood—as a single, newly divorced mother and college drop-out—eventually led to her starring role on the classic sitcom Laverne & Shirley. And how her transition from on-screen star to behind-the-camera quickly led her to become the first woman to direct a movie that made more than $100 million at the box office, an honor bestowed upon Big, which Marshall duplicated just four years later with A League of Their Own.”