Like reality-stars, scandal survivors, and a couple of writers before him, Julian Assange has signed a $1.5 million book deal with Random House, he confirmed to Britain’s Sunday Times today. “I don’t want to write this book, but I have to,” he explained. “I have already spent 200,000 pounds for legal costs and I need to defend myself and to keep WikiLeaks afloat.” Plus, Bank of America, Visa, Mastercard and PayPal cut off payment services to the website. Assange’s book is due out next year, and he’ll even have some competition: His former spokesperson Daniel Domscheit-Berg also landed a book deal last week with Random House. Domscheit-Berg’s book, Inside Wikileaks: My Time with Julian Assange at the World’s Most Dangerous Website, is set to hit shelves in Germany in January. There are no details about Assange’s book yet, but Not the Droid You’re Looking For: The Julian Assange Story sounds like a nice title.
Julian Assange to use £1m book deals for legal fight [Guardian UK]
Wikileaks founder Julian Assange reluctantly signs book deal worth $1.5 million; book due next year [NYDN]
Assange Memoir Sold in U.S., U.K. [WSJ]
