At least one person benefited from the Imus scandal. Vivian Stringer, the Rutgers women's basketball coach, signed a deal with Crown Publishing.

According to Rachel Klayman, the senior editor who purchased the book in a pre-empt, Stringer had been working with a writer for six or eight months, but the pair "finished [the proposal] up quickly" after the Imus controversy escalated. "It made sense to go out with it then," Klayman said. She wouldn't disclose the terms of the deal.

"It was a very substantial proposal, not the kind of thing you'd throw together overnight," the editor added, citing the 50-page document, which included "substantial" chapter outlines. Klayman was drawn to the coach because she's "an extraordinary women who embodies perseverance."

The book, tentatively-titled Stepping Up and Standing Tall, will hit stands in 2008.