Gates’ Status Could Jeopardize Book Deal : Fallout: Autobiography might be difficult to sell if he is no longer chief, publishing experts say.

Beyond his desire to restore public confidence in the Los Angeles Police Department, Daryl F. Gates has another incentive to ride out the public uproar over the Rodney G. King beating: He signed a $300,000 deal last year for a book that publishing experts say might be difficult to market if he were no longer chief.

According to interviews with book publishers and agents, the contract for his autobiography would be in jeopardy if Gates succumbed to growing demands for his resignation.

“If he finds himself out of a job somehow, his book is worth nothing,” said Esther Newberg, vice president of the New York literary agency International Creative Management.

Gates was not available for comment Thursday on his autobiography, which is to be published by Bantam Books. Co-author Steve Delsohn said he has finished interviewing Gates but plans to revisit the chief to fully explore the King beating.

“Knowing the chief, he would not want to dodge or neglect something of this kind of importance,” Delsohn said. He added: “The way I feel is the book doesn’t matter right now. What matters is (that) the city start healing.”

On Wednesday, Mayor Tom Bradley said “the only way” for the Police Department to recover from the controversy is for Gates “to remove himself” from office. Gates has insisted that he has no plans to retire.

A Bantam spokesman said the publisher is still in Gates’ corner.

“(The King beating) was obviously a terrible and unfortunate incident, but it doesn’t change our plans and our commitment to Chief Gates,” Stuart Applebaum said. “It’s not our style to back away from somebody just because they are going through a difficult time.”

Applebaum had said in a December interview that Gates’ memoirs, written in a first-person narrative, would attract nationwide interest because of the “glamour and charisma” of the Los Angeles Police Department. He has not changed this view in light of the King case.

“We still feel that his is a powerful story with national appeal,” Applebaum said this week. “He was controversial before this incident. He obviously is no less so now.”

There has been no discussion, Applebaum said, about rushing the book into print. He said the autobiography will be published in 1992 at the earliest.

Despite Bantam’s optimism, New York literary agent David Vigliano and others predicted that the publisher would have to reconsider its contract if Gates is driven from office.

“If it doesn’t kill the book, it makes it very difficult for him to have the kind of bestseller he would have if he were to survive the pressure and land on his feet,” Vigliano said.

Several literary agents said that in order to sell, the book must deal with the King incident and police brutality--and, in fact, this episode might eventually make for a hotter commodity. The controversy already has generated an enormous amount of national publicity for Gates--almost none of it positive--but a widely recognized name is almost a requirement for a successful autobiography.

“I’m sure the story he had to tell is very different than the story he is going to have to tell,” said West Coast agent Frederick Hill, president of Frederick Hill Associates. “I think a book on (the King) story is going to be a hell of a lot more interesting than a book on his life.”

Gates and Bantam negotiated an advance “in the ballpark” of $300,000, police spokesman William Booth confirmed in December. Earlier this month, Gates reported on financial disclosure forms that he had received $35,000 from Bantam in 1990. The 64-year-old chief is paid a $168,000-a-year salary and will receive an annual pension of $117,000 when he retires.

Under standard book contract language, Gates would get future advances as he submits material to Bantam, which would have the option of rejecting the book at any time, according to sources in the publishing industry. The book will cover major events since Gates joined the Police Department 42 years ago, including his experiences as a field commander during the Watts riots, Booth said.

Publishing sources agreed that the best way for Gates to produce a bestseller will be to remain as chief and reflect on ways he tried to turn around the department a year later.

“In so many ways, this controversy is going to damage his image,” said Michael Hamilburg, a Los Angeles literary agent. “But he could turn it into a plus, especially if he rides it out. If people conceive of him as a law and order guy who stands up to the world of crime no matter what has happened . . . he is going to be a hero like Ollie North.”