Osbournes Get $3 Million Book Deal
Dyslexic rocker Ozzy Osbourne and his colorful clan, the stars of MTV’s hit reality series “The Osbournes,” are now making waves in the publishing world.
In a deal worth more than $3 million, the ratings-smashing first family of metal has sold world rights to two books to Pocket Books, an imprint of Simon & Schuster.
The deal, signed on the floor of last weekend’s publishing trade convention, Book Expo America, is for a trade paperback tie-in to their MTV show and a hardcover family memoir. The tie-in will be published in November, and the memoir, to be narrated by each member of the Osbourne family, including the heretofore-unseen fifth Osbourne, Aimee, will appear the following spring.
The book deal comes on the heels of the Osbournes’ reported $20 million deal with MTV for two more seasons of their show.
“The Osbournes are a popular phenomenon of the first magnitude” said Simon & Schuster Adult Publishing Group president Carolyn Reidy, who negotiated the deal with Trident Media Group and Endeavor. “Their appeal is multi-generational and covers the entire political and cultural spectrum. We’re bleeping delighted to publish them at Simon & Schuster.”
Simon & Schuster and MTV are both units of Viacom Inc.
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