Penguin Portfolio Signs Spitzer Bio

Portfolio, the business imprint of Penguin Group USA, paid over $350,000 for the rights to a book by Peter Elkind about the rise and fall of Eliot Spitzer, according to a source familiar with the situation.

Mr. Elkind, who wrote a cover story about Mr. Spitzer for Fortune in 2005, will be collaborating with filmmaker Alex Gibney, who is working on a Spitzer documentary, the release of which will be timed to the publication of the book.

The model mirrors that of Philip Gourevitch and Errol Morris, who recently worked together on a book and an accompanying documentary film about Abu Ghraib, both titled Standard Operating Procedure and set for simultaneous release this spring.

Portfolio also published Mr. Elkind’s last book, The Smartest Guys in the Room, but the author was no longer under contract there when it came time to shop his new one.