Rice Signs with William Morris

Former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has signed with the William Morris Agency to represent her in all areas.

The agency said that Rice will have a primary focus on books, lecture appearances, philanthropic activities, and "new business initiatives in the media, sports and communications sectors."

Rice will be represented by Jim Wiatt and Wayne Kabak, who say that other agencies were also in the mix to represent her.

Kabak said that Rice will be writing two books: One will focus on her diplomatic career, and the other will be about her parents, the Rev. John Wesley Rice Jr. and Angelena Ray, whom her daughter has referred to as "educational evangelists," for their influence on learning.

The diplomatic memoir will probably be written first, Kabak said, and "we will be meeting with publishers in very short order," he said, adding that there is "a lot of interest from publishers already."

There's expected to be a flood of activity among those connected to the Bush years to pen books and develop other projects --- but with it is some doubt of the marketability with so much of the public focused on President Obama's new administration.
President Bush says he is planning to write his memoirs, and Laura Bush recently landed a deal with a publisher for her tome.

While the former First Lady had little trouble selling her book, there was fascination among publishers because she has not revealed a substantial amount about her thoughts and opinions over the past eight years. Others may have more difficulty pursuing their projects in a time of Bush fatigue. When Donald Rumsfeld sold his memoirs to Sentinel, a conservative imprint of Penguin, he decided to forgo an advance and take only money for expenses. His book is due to come out in 2010.

Yet Kabak said that Rice's life experience "transcends politics," and cited a recent NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll that showed Rice was the most popular Republican in the country.

Kabak talked of Rice's next steps as part of the next "reinvention and evolution" of her career.

He said that in her post-administration career, Rice intends to focus on two areas, one of which is "the empowerment of women." "She believes that if women are empowered in underprivileged communities, the rest of the village will follow," he said. And Rice also wants to focus on "encouraging and creating a generation of young people who are global citizens" and helping their parents obtain resources to achieve that. Kabak talked of pursuing alliances in the football and sports worlds, as well as in TV and other areas the agency represents.

"What I do think is unique about Secretary Rice is she is a woman who has pursued many endeavors in many fields," he said. "We are not thinking about this as, 'We are signing a public official.' We are signing a scholar. We are signing a writer."

He added, "This is not about hiring a company to arrange a book deal or to book speeches," Kabak said. "We are talking about a woman with extraordinary accomplishments. Politics is only a part of it."
The agency currently represents House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Sen. Byron Dorgan, Sen. Jim Webb and former Sen. Fred Thompson. In the past the agency has repped former President Gerald Ford and his wife Betty, Gov. Mitt Romney and Sen. John Edwards.

Source : http://www.wilshireandwashington.com