Page Six hears that Lester Holt is shopping his first book. And while there are big offers on the table — some publisher are a little leery.
It turns out that, somewhat bizarrely, the memoir’s not about the veteran newsman’s derring-do in the line of duty — it’s about “his experiences as a jazz bassist.”
Another source said that it’s actually about much more than his own experiences. We’re told “The Genius of Joy” is also about “how music, and specifically black music like gospel, R&B, jazz and so on, creates joy.”
The tome’s being hawked by Keith Urbahn at D.C. lit agency Javelin, and an industry source told us there have been “multiple seven-figure offers,” predicting the deal will “close around $2million.”
But, while it’s clearly loosening the check-writing arms of many publishers, we’re told its striking something of a bum note at others.
“Some people really aren’t seeing it,” said a source.
The “NBC Nightly News” anchor would seem to have plenty of tales that would leave any publisher licking their chops. He has been in the news business since 1981 and has reported from some of the most pulse-racing scenes in recent history, including the front lines in Iraq and Afghanistan, Northern Ireland at the height of the Troubles and three installments of the Westminster Dog Show.
Meanwhile, his career behind the bass could perhaps be described as more full of enthusiasm than world-beating triumphs.
As Page Six has previously chronicled, Holt is a longtime member of a band named the Rough Cuts, which is mostly made up of video editors from “Dateline NBC.” They have a semi-regular gig at Hill Country BBQ in Flatiron, where they play “crowd pleasers like ‘Sweet Emotion,’ by Aerosmith and ‘So Lonely,’ by the Police,” as the New York Times reported in 2019.
Either way, as longtime fans of the Rough Cuts, Page Six will be first in line to get a copy of the book when it hits shelves. The problem is, we may also be last in line.
