Kitty Kelley, Random House, William Morris . . . and one step away from iUniverse.

Publishers Marketplace reports today that the biography of Oprah Winfrey by Kitty Kelley, which had been making the rounds in New York to no avail, finally got picked up by Crown (Random House) for an undisclosed sum. The interesting thing is how many folks were involved in selling it (Larry Kirshbaum, Wayne Kabak at William Morris) and how close it came to actually going to iUniverse.

From PM:

It took not only her usual agent Wayne Kabak at William Morris to pull the deal off, but also Larry Kirshbaum as "marketing consultant." Crown group Jenny Frost takes responsibility for the buy, and Peter Gethers will edit the book.

At one point this summer, Kelley's reps were said to be seriously exploring a publishing deal with iUniverse since they had been unable to find a traditional publisher brave enough to take the book on.

Welcome to POD, the land of the brave.