What do you call a fiery, nationally known politician without a book contract? Sarah Palin.

Until now. Palin, the Republican vice presidential candidate who was a walking joke book for liberals but a darling of conservatives, has signed a book deal with HarperCollins. Her memoir is scheduled for release in Spring 2010, the year she is up for re-election.

"There's been so much written about and spoken about in the mainstream media and in the anonymous blogosphere world, that this will be a wonderful, refreshing chance for me to get to tell my story, that a lot of people have asked about, unfiltered," the Alaska governor told The Associated Press.

As a member of the nonanonymous blogosphere world, I'm not big on such memoirs, especially those written by politicians or other noted figures in their prime. They seem to be too calculated, too much the marketing device. I'd rather read the memoir of an old lion, recounted as he sits in a leather covered chair, sipping brandy. Or a gripping political/business/personal tale such as Personal History by Katherine Graham, the former head of The Washington Post.

But I can't fault Palin, 45, for cashing in. President Obama -- and everyone connected to him -- will be enriched by book contracts. He earned nearly $2.5 million in royalties last year from Dreams from My Father, and The Audacity of Hope, according to a Post report on his disclosure forms. And he added $500,000 more on Jan. 15, just before taking office, when he signed a deal for a YA version of Dreams.

Meanwhile, new books were announced for Obama campaign manager David Plouffe, Michelle Obama's brother, Elizabeth Alexander's inauguration poem and Bo the Portuguese water dog.  Duke University Press even plans to publish the dissertation that the late Ann Dunham, the president's mother, submitted on rural craftsmen in Indonesia.

So start typing (or dictating), Sarah!