Karen Read’s high-profile murder trial could cost her millions. Despite Read being unemployed, experts say there may be ways she can make some needed cash, namely with a book deal.
The former adjunct professor at Bentley University and an equity analyst at Fidelity Investments was acquitted of all homicide-related charges in the 2022 death of her former boyfriend, Boston Police Officer John O’Keefe. She will be on probation for a year for driving while intoxicated.
Despite the vindication after her second trial, Read has to pay her high-powered defense team that secured the not guilty verdicts on the most serious charges.
In October 2024, Read told Vanity Fair she already owed more than $5 million in deferred fees to her legal team. That was before her second trial even began.
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“Now that Karen Read has been found not guilty, there is a clear path for her to land a major book deal, quickly. Her case has captivated national attention not just because of the tragic loss of life, but because of the explosive claims of a cover-up, her unwavering proclamation of innocence and the grassroots movement that rallied around her,” Lauren Cobello, author and CEO of Leverage with Media PR, told FOX Business.
“In publishing, that level of media attention combined with vindication in court is exactly what drives interest when it comes to securing a book deal,” Cobello said, estimating Read could get a significant book advance in the mid-to-high six-figure range if there is a strong co-writer and a media tour.
“But beyond the money, what makes this moment so compelling from a publishing standpoint is that Karen Read’s story represents more than just a true crime narrative,” she said. “It taps into bigger questions about justice, power and public perception. Those are the types of stories both publishers and readers are hungry for.”
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Another executive in the publishing industry told FOX Business the first question that comes to an editor’s mind with someone like Karen Read, who spoke to the media during the trial, including a five-episode documentary on Max, is whether there is anything new?
“You’re going to have editors in the room … who are like, ‘Well, what’s left to tell?'” the executive said. “What is going to be in this book? What’s going to get them back on ‘Good Morning America’ when the book comes out?
“The other question will be, ‘Will we look villainous for doing it?’”
However, prior books about such cases have had impressive sales numbers. After Amanda Knox’s book, “Waiting to Be Heard,” was published in 2013, it sold 72,946 hard copies. That’s an impressive feat given that the median non-fiction book from a major publishing house sells around 9,000 hard copies, according to the executive.
Those figures refer to life sales, though most non-fiction books sell all their copies in the first few months of being released.
When factoring all platforms, including hard copy and e-book formats, Knox’s book sold over 200,000 copies. If an author receives about $4 per hard cover sold, the executive estimated Knox could have made nearly $300,000 on that format alone.
Another example is Gypsy Rose’s book, “My Time to Stand: A Memoir,” which, published in 2024, sold 12,000 hard copies. While it’s not as significant as Knox’s book, it’s still well above the median non-fiction book from a major publishing house, the executive noted.
Another publishing consultant told FOX Business that, aside from a potentially healthy advance and a contract for exclusive English-language distribution rights of her book, Read could also land a TV or movie deal “since streaming platforms will be champing at the bit for a documentary or a screenplay.”
While they don’t think Read would get an advance similar to someone like Hillary Clinton, the publishing consultant said it’s also not out of the question for her to get anywhere between $60,000 and $150,000 up front, with marketing and PR appearances detailed in her contract.
