Early this morning, PW Daily reported that literary agent Sharlene Martin had found a publisher for If I Did It, but she wouldn’t say who it is, just that the publisher is in New York and that the finished book will add “key commentary” to OJ Simpson‘s hypothetical explanation for how he might’ve killed Nicole Brown Simpson and Ron Goldman. Martin was retained by the Goldman family after they were awarded the rights to Simpson’s manuscript last month.
Before we start speculating about who the publisher might be, though, let’s consider whether or not this deal might go the way of the tell-all from Madonna’s nanny, which Martin sold to Crown earlier this year, only to have the publisher back out of the project a few days later… OK, now that we’ve got that out of the way, want to make a prediction? Keep in mind that Sarah’s already contacted Goldman family spokesperson Michael Wright, who indicated the publisher’s name would be announced tomorrow. “We wanted the publishing industry to know a deal was made,” Wright emailed, “but the publisher just needs a day with their staff to organize properly.” Sarah thought it might be a publisher with whom Martin’s worked extensively in the past and has a track record of picking up books HarperCollins jettisoned because of their association with Judith Regan; I’d call that a fine guess, since we’re confident it’s not the highly commercial wing of a German publishing conglomerate that has a solid pedigree in true crime… except that imprint is based in Connecticut.