FRANKS HAWKS A MEMOIR (NYT disgrace Gerald Boyd shopping book sans topic Blair)

NY POST ^ | August 20, 2003 | KEITH J. KELLY

[Liz]

Gen. Tommy Franks, the retired commander of the U.S. forces in Iraq in Gulf War II, is shopping his life story.

Publishers, who will be called to a meeting in the Washington, D.C., area after Labor Day, had better be prepared to part with Hillary Clinton-type money. Simon & Schuster paid a near record $8 million for her memoir, "Living History," now in fourth place on the New York Times bestseller list.

Franks is being represented by ICM's Marvin Josephson, who corralled a $6.5 million advance from Random House for Gen. Colin Powell's autobiography in 1995, and earlier snagged nearly $6 million from Bantam for Gen. Norman Schwarzkopf's life story.

There is no Franks proposal out yet (and probably won't be), but most of the majors are expected to make the pilgrimage for the meet-and-greet.

"We are going to meet with him in September," confirmed Jane Friedman, CEO of HarperCollins - which is owned by News Corp., which also owns The Post. "It will be myself and Judith Regan," the head of HarperCollins' Regan Media.

Friedman wouldn't reveal a target price but said, "It will be a significant amount of money for a significant man."

A source at another publishing house said that Franks is looking for around $7 million to $8 million, but might have a hard time reaching that figure, since he was not as visible to the American people as Schwarzkopf was in the first Gulf War.

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Gerald Boyd, former managing editor of the New York Times, is also shopping a memoir - but he doesn't want to play up the Jayson Blair scandal.

Boyd rose from poverty in St. Louis to become a top Pulitzer Prize-winning editor. His 20-year career at the Times came to a sudden end - along with that of Times Executive Editor Howell Raines - on June 5, in the wake of the fabrication and plagiarism scandal tied to Blair.

"If I write a book, it will be about my life and the world of journalism," said Boyd. "It will not be a kiss-and-tell about the Jayson Blair scandal or settling scores."

Boyd acknowledged that Marie Brown, a friend and literary agent, has begun to sound out selected publishers. "Marie has talked to a publisher about pursuing a book, but it's very preliminary at this point," said Boyd.

Since his resignation, Boyd said he has been spending time with his wife and 6-year-old son, and has spent a lot of time "thinking about the lessons, why the Jayson Blair scandal happened and how to make sure it never happens again."

Boyd said the Times "will always have a place in my heart."

"It was very hard going through the blackout as a civilian, not being at my desk," Boyd said. "It's quite different dealing with batteries and candles instead of trying to put out the best newspaper you can."

Since the resignation, he said, "I've had conversations with people about editing papers," he said.

He declined to say whether Daily News publisher Mort Zuckerman approached him about the News' top editorial job, as has been rumored.

"I'm not going to talk about specific approaches," said Boyd. But the 52-year-old clearly doesn't think his journalism days are over.

"What I would love to do is edit another newspaper, and I've always loved teaching," said Boyd.

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[Liz]

Publishers, who will be called to a meeting in the Washington, D.C., area after Labor Day, had better be prepared to part with Hillary Clinton-type money. Simon & Schuster paid a near record $8 million for her memoir, "Living History," now in fourth place on the New York Times bestseller list.

Hee's hoping buying Franks book won't cause publishing jobs to be lost as they were after paying off Hitlery's book extortion.