The bidding war for Keith Richards’ life story has closed with Little, Brown emerging as the victor. Michael Pietsch, senior v-p and publisher of the Hachette division, purchased world English rights to the forthcoming autobiography from the famed Rolling Stone with Weidenfeld & Nicolson in the United Kingdom (which will publish the book in England simultaneiously). The deal was brokered by Richards’ manager Jane Rose and literary agent Ed Victor.
Richards will collaborate on the book, which is scheduled for a 2010 release date, with author James Fox (White Mischief).
The book, which was being talked about at the London Book Fair where it was rumored that Victor would be looking for an advance of at least $4 million, recently became the object of a heated bidding war between Pietsch and HarperCollins’s Jonathan Burnham, with the last reported price being upwards of $7 million.
