Topline
Tennis legend Serena Williams signed a deal with Penguin Random House to write and publish two books: a memoir about her life on and off the court and an inspirational title, according to multiple reports—the latest entry into the highly lucrative celebrity memoir market.
Serena Williams is photographed at the 54th NAACP Image Awards on February 25 at the Civic … [+]
Key Facts
The memoir, which does not yet have a title, will be an “intimate” look at Williams’ childhood, life and tennis career, the publisher said in a statement to the Guardian and the Associated Press.
The book will delve into how Williams faced scrutiny and attacks in a predominantly white and male-dominated sport, how she handled “devastating losses on and off the court.”
The book will tell the story of how Williams met her husband, Reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian, and of being a mother to her two daughters, Olympia and Adira.
It will also share the tennis star’s thoughts on “celebrating body diversity and expanding the confines of style in sports and pop culture” as well as “bringing awareness to maternal health disparities.”
The second book, also currently untitled, will be an “inspirational” piece that “will “offer rules for living that draw on her experiences as a philanthropist and advocate, and someone who has long sought to lift a diverse and emergent generation of young women whose aspirations are not confined to the court.”
Forbes has reached out to Penguin Random House for more details.
Key Background
Williams, 42, is widely regarded as one of the greatest tennis players of all-time. Born in Michigan and raised in California, Williams became a professional tennis player at the age of 14. She won the 1999 U.S. Open, her first major title, at 17. She went on to win 23 grand slam titles—more than any other female player in the modern era—dominating the international women’s professional tour for decades. She has also won four Olympic gold medals and five WTA tour championships. She married Ohanian in November 2017 and the two had their first daughter in September 2017, a little over a month prior. Williams stepped away from tennis in 2022, but emphasized at the time that she may return to the sport in the future. Outside of tennis, Williams has become a significant business figure. She is the cofounder of Will Perform, a startup that creates products for topical pain relief and muscle and skin care, she runs an investment firm called Serena Ventures and in April, she launched a multimedia company called Nine Two Six Productions. She also owns a small stake in the Miami Dolphins and released a children’s book in 2022. She is the 89th-wealthiest self-made woman in the U.S. and the 49th-highest paid athlete in the world, according to Forbes’ America’s Self-Made Women and World’s Highest-Paid Athletes lists.
Forbes Valuation
We estimate Williams’ net worth to be $290 million as of June.
Tangent
Williams’ book announcement comes as other celebrities are raking in huge sums of money for their own memoirs. Prince Harry’s memoir Spare sold more than 1.4 million copies on its first day in publication in the U.S., Canada and Britain and is rumored to have brought Prince Harry $20 million, the New York Times reported. It saw the largest first-day sales numbers of any nonfiction book ever published by Penguin Random House. Former President Barack Obama’s memoir, A Promised Land, reportedly sold over 887,000 copies on its first day on shelves in the U.S. and Canada in 2020, while his wife Michelle Obama’s Becoming sold more than 725,000 copies on its first day in 2018 in the U.S. and Canada, according to the Times. Pop star Britney Spears is set to publish her memoir, The Woman in Me, later this month.
Surprising Fact
In January 2017, Williams won the Australian Open tournament in Melbourne while pregnant.
Further Reading
Serena Williams to publish memoir about life ‘on and off the court’ (The Guardian)
Source: https://www.forbes.com/sites/willskipworth/2023/10/18/serena-williams-signs-deal-to-write-two-books-a-memoir-and-inspirational-work/