Palin's book deal

Sarah Palin couldn’t save John McCain, said Tony Allen-Mills in London's Times Online, but she “may yet emerge as the savior of the American publishing industry.” Literary agents are lining up to sign the former Republican vice-presidential candidate to a book deal that could earn her $7 million, and sales should justify the price.

Not bad for a “small-town Alaska girl turned beauty queen,” said the blog OhMyGov!. It’s too soon to know whether Palin is paving the way for a run for national office in 2012, or simply “defending herself from being labeled an intellectually weak, shop-a-holic, ticket-spoiling, loose cannon.” But one thing’s for sure—she’ll soon have enough money “to keep her living large in ‘real’ America for life.”

“We’ll believe it when we see it,” said Ron Hogan in mediabistro.com. An early source of the speculation on the size of Palin’s book deal came from Radar online, citing anonymous sources. But her best chance for a deal “might come from the Christian publishing market, which would no doubt welcome a memoir about how Palin's faith and family led her to and guided her through her historic moment in the spotlight ... but we can't remember when any publisher there paid that much money for a single book.”

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Don't underestimate the public's continued interest in Palin, said Kathryn Jean Lopez in National Review Online. “Whatever you thought of her, it seemed everyone in the country had an opinion on Palin”—and many conservatives were energized by “her simple and clear patriotism.” So don’t sell the “Palin phenom” short just because her ticket lost.