JUNEAU, ALASKA (AP) - A best-selling author accused of helping leak an unpublished tell-all on Sarah Palin is releasing his own book on the former Alaska governor this summer.
Amazon.com lists a Sept. 20 release date for author Joe McGinniss’ “The Rogue: Searching for the Real Sarah Palin.”
McGinniss, who wrote a magazine expose on Palin and her natural gas pipeline plans, made headlines last year when he moved next door to the Palins in Wasilla for about three months while researching the book. The move prompted complaints by Palin, who had the fence between their properties extended.
More recently, McGinniss has been accused of helping leak a draft of an unpublished tell-all by former Palin aide Frank Bailey. Details from the manuscript got national attention after the leak to news outlets and Alaska political circles late last week.
In a letter to McGinniss, an attorney for Bailey and writers Ken Morris and Jeanne Devon alleges McGinniss received a copy of the manuscript between Feb. 16 and 18 and says the matter “appears to be no more than that of a jealous author sabotaging a competitor via unlawful and unscrupulous means.”
A copy of the letter was posted on Devon’s blog. The Anchorage Daily News has reported that it received copies of the manuscript from multiple sources, including McGinniss.
Neither McGinniss nor a spokeswoman for Crown Publishing Group, which is publishing McGinniss’ book under its Broadway imprint, immediately returned messages Tuesday.
McGinniss’ book agent, Dave Larabell, told The Associated Press that McGinniss wasn’t the only person in the publishing world to see the manuscript. He declined further comment.
McGinniss is a best-selling author whose previous works include “The Selling of the President,” about the marketing of Richard Nixon.
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