Gorbachev Big Winner in This Coup

NEW YORK — Soviet President Mikhail S. Gorbachev reportedly has sold his book on the failed coup in the Soviet Union to an American publisher for $500,000.

HarperCollins plans to have its translation of the 74-page manuscript in bookstores by the end of October, the New York Times reported today.

“We, without a doubt, have the publishing coup,” William Shinker, senior vice president at HarperCollins, asserted.

Shinker wouldn’t disclose the size of Gorbachev’s advance, but unidentified publishing industry sources told the newspaper that Gorbachev got about $500,000.

The book, “The August Coup,” describes the three days Gorbachev spent under house arrest in the Crimea and analyzes the causes and consequences of the coup.

Rights to a book by Russian President Boris N. Yeltsin, whose resistance was credited with defeating the coup, will be auctioned next week at the Frankfurt Book Fair.