Huge Advance for Book Being Co-Authored by 'WSJ' Writer Jeff Zaslow

By: Dave Astor Wall Street Journal writer and former syndicated columnist Jeff Zaslow will be co-authoring a book that Hyperion bought the rights to for the reported huge sum of $6.7 million.

The other co-author is Carnegie Mellon University professor Randy Pausch, who's terminally ill with pancreatic cancer. Pausch gave a humorous and poignant "Last Lecture" a couple months ago that Zaslow covered for the WSJ. The resulting column (accompanied by a video) was seen throughout the world via the Internet and helped turn Pausch into a celebrity.

In his talk, the 47-year-old professor discussed the goals he reached in his life and the setbacks. Pausch -- the father of three young children -- also advised parents to let their children draw on walls (like he did as a kid) as a creative outlet.

Zaslow, 49, has just begun a leave of absence from the WSJ. He told E&P that he has less than two months (until Jan. 15) to finish the book, which will contain Pausch's lecture and lots of other material. Hyperion obviously hopes the book will have an impact similar to "Tuesdays With Morrie," the runaway bestseller about dying professor Morrie Schwartz written by Detroit Free Press/Tribune Media Services columnist Mitch Albom.

The Michigan-based Zaslow is a former Chicago Sun-Times columnist. He was one of two winners of a 1987 contest to replace Ann Landers at the Sun-Times after the advice columnist moved to the Chicago Tribune. That contest drew 12,000 entrants.

In 2000, Zaslow was the first winner of the National Society of Newspaper Columnists' annual Will Rogers Humanitarian Award for all the charitable work he did as a Sun-Times columnist.