After a book by Wael Ghonim called Revolution 2.0 started much chatter at the London Book Fair, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt has announced it is the winning bidder on the title by the former Google executive and unlikely revolutionary. Ghonim, who pitched his story to American and international publishers in 30-minute sessions during the London Book Fair, helped mobilize anti-Mubarak protestors in Egypt via his Facebook page. The unorthodox sales approach, spearheaded by Ghonim's agency Inkwell Management, helped generate buzz for the title and it's rumored that HMH won the book with a bid north of $2 million.
Revolution 2.0, which HMH publisher Bruce Nichols acquired North American rights to, is scheduled for January 25, 2012, a date which will mark the anniversary of the Egyptian uprising that Ghonim played a pivotal role in. Nichols said Ghonim's story has "reach far beyond the Middle East" and that his tale of how he "helped nurture a mass movement is one of the great stories of our time, with lessons for anyone who seeks to make change anywhere on earth using technology.”
A number of foreign sales on the book are also expected to be announced shortly and Ghonim plans to write the book in Arabic for its Arabic language publishers.
