NY Times reporters land seven-figure Facebook book deal

Two New York Times reporters have signed a seven-figure contract to write a book about Facebook, reports Joe Pompeo of Vanity Fair.

Pompeo writes, “I’m told that publishing insiders are buzzing about a deal that Sheera Frenkel and Cecilia Kang have landed for a book based on their Facebook reporting for the Times. According to sources familiar with the matter, HarperCollins was the winning bidder in a competitive auction to acquire a title based on a November 14 Times investigation, headlined ‘Delay, Deny, and Deflect,’ on which Frenkel and Kang were two of the five bylines. One source briefed on the negotiations said it was a seven-figure deal. Adam Eaglin and Elyse Cheney sold the book, which will be edited for the Harper imprint by executive editor and S.V.P. Jennifer Barth. Reached for comment, a HarperCollins spokesperson confirmed the publisher had won North American rights to the as yet untitled book.

“The seven-digit advance is yet more evidence that the market for books by prominent reporters on the political and social upheaval of our current era is superheated. Most of these books have a distinct Trump angle, and, Frenkel and Kang’s won’t be an exception. Their reporting on Facebook for the Times explored Trump’s personal Facebook activity and Russia’s manipulation of the social network during the 2016 campaigns, as well as Facebook’s involvement with Cambridge Analytica, now notorious for its close ties to Trump.”

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