Madea's Happy Landing

by John F. Baker -- Publishers Weekly, 4/18/2005

We've been tracking the bidding for the first book by versatile actor, writer and director Tyler Perry for some time as various houses took it up to near $2 million before dropping out. The one left standing proved to be Riverhead, where senior editor Sean McDonald came up with the necessary for world, first serial and audio rights. What he bought is a book starring Madea, Perry's sassy gun-toting grandmother familiar from the hit movie Diary of a Mad Black Woman and various stage shows that have been touring recently, drawing sold-out, largely African-American audiences. Her book, which will offer more of her patented comic wisdom, is Don't Make a Black Woman Take Off Her Earrings: Madea's Uninhibited Commentaries on Love and Life. The deal was struck with Jay Mandel at William Morris, and the book will be out next year.