Columnist Discusses Progress of Book That Sold For a Reported $6.7-Million

By: Dave Astor After covering a "last lecture" brought Jeff Zaslow part of a reported $6.7-million book advance, the Wall Street Journal columnist says he was privileged to hear what he describes as 53 additional lectures.

It was in September that Zaslow covered the talk by Dr. Randy Pausch, a popular Carnegie Mellon computer-science professor dying of pancreatic cancer. Pausch's upbeat and moving lecture had such an impact that Zaslow's column and video were picked up by thousands of sites and Hyperion won a spirited auction for book rights (as a story in E&P's January 2008 print magazine notes).

Zaslow started the book in November, and worked non-stop to finish it by this past Tuesday's Jan. 15 deadline. During those two months, Zaslow spent 53 hours on the phone with Pausch as the professor rode a bike for exercise. (Pausch was multitasking in order to minimize lost family time.)

"I loved those 53 hours," said Zaslow, when contacted this afternoon by E&P and interviewed again. "I got a lot from him that I didn't have before -- seeing a new way to look at the world."

The columnist added: "I've interviewed thousands of people in my life. Randy is really a special guy -- and the most quotable person I've ever interviewed."

Zaslow said the book, now in the editing stage, will probably run 180 to 210 pages (depending on how many photos are used). Unlike the original plan, it will now have Pausch's words in the first person.

The book is due out April 10, and Zaslow said Pausch's health is currently stable enough to offer hope that the professor will be alive to see the finished volume.

After paying such a huge advance, Hyperion is obviously hoping for "Tuesdays With Morrie"-like sales. That book, which also focused on a dying professor, was written by columnist Mitch Albom of the Detroit Free Press and Tribune Media Services.

The Michigan-based Zaslow is taking a brief break before resuming work on a book he was writing until the Hyperion deal. "The Girls From Ames," about a group of Iowa women in their 40s, was also inspired by a Zaslow column.

Zaslow, who's currently on leave from the Journal, plans a late-spring return to the newspaper -- for which he writes the "Moving On" column covering "life transitions."