Chesley Sullenberger Lands $3.2 Million Two-Book Deal

Captain Chesley Sullenberger scored a $3.2 million two-book deal with HarperCollins’ William Morrow imprint. He will write a memoir that climaxes with his miraculous airplane landing and a book of “inspirational poems.”

The auction was negotiated by agent Jan Miller. Former Publishers Weekly editor Sara Nelson broke the news on The Daily Beast. Earlier this week, the pilot who safely landed an airplane in the Hudson River used a magazine column as his book proposal.

Here’s some snappy commentary from the article: “Yes, it’s official: The book world has gone crazy … This is the kind of book deal a publisher makes in order both to make a balance sheet work–the $3.2 million goes down on two different lines, for two different titles, and thus each book ‘only’ has to earn back half of the total–and also to humor a would-be author or, in this case, poet.”

Create a social media strategy, launch your campaign, and track the results in our Social Media Marketing Boot Camp starting February 16. The online event and workshop will feature speakers including The Onion‘s Baratunde Thurston (left), Facebook’s Morin Oluwole, and bitly’s Tim Devane. Register now.