First Lady’s Book Profits Going To Charity

After 20 weeks on the best-seller lists, Hillary Rodham Clinton’s book on child raising, “It Takes a Village,” is a money maker.

Now the first lady has a new job: selecting the charities among which to divide the $742,000 from the first royalty check.

When the book was published earlier this year, Clinton said she would donate the first after-tax royalties to children’s hospitals.

Marsha Berry, the first lady’s communications director, said Clinton is seeking the advice of the National Association of Children’s Hospitals on distributing the money.

Under her agreement with publisher Simon & Schuster, Clinton is to receive 15 percent of the retail price of each book sold. The proceeds to date have been deposited in a checking account and will be distributed after the November election, the first lady’s office said.

“It Takes a Village” has now gone through 10 printings for a total of 461,000 copies, said Neel Lattimore, Hillary Clinton’s press secretary.