Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis received a $1.25 million advance for his recent book, Insider reports.
The hefty payment was for the Republican’s The Courage To Be Free: Florida’s Blueprint for America’s Revival, published in February by Broadside, the HarperCollins imprint that has released books by conservatives such as Ben Shapiro, Sen. Marco Rubio, and Dinesh D’Souza.
DeSantis’ book chronicles his life and his tenure as governor of Florida. He was elected to the post in 2018, re-elected last year, and launched a campaign for the Republican nomination for president in May.
His book was a bestseller but savaged by critics. A reviewer for Kirkus called it “boldly grandiose, turgid, and remarkably unenlightening,” while Jennifer Szalai of the New York Times blasted the “dull coldness at this book’s core.”
DeSantis disclosed the amount of his advance in a filing with the Florida Commission on Ethics. Insider reports that at the end of last year, his net worth rose to $1.17 million from almost $319,000 the year prior.
DeSantis is one of a few Republican presidential hopefuls to have recently published a book. Sen. Tim Scott released his America, a Redemption Story: Choosing Hope, Creating Unity last August, while former U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki R. Haley published If You Want Something Done: Leadership Lessons From Bold Women last October. Former Vice President Mike Pence published So Help Me God in November.
In April, former President Donald Trump released a book of correspondence, Letters to Trump, via Winning Team Publishing, a press co-founded by his son Donald Trump Jr.
Michael Schaub, a journalist and regular contributor to NPR, lives near Austin, Texas.
