Publishers 'rush out Jackson books'

A number of publishers have commissioned new Michael Jackson biographies to be released in the wake of the singer's sudden death last month.

Simon & Schuster, HarperCollins, Headline, John Blake and Carlton will all bring out books about the late superstar before the end of the month, The Times reports.

John Blake said: "It's extraordinary. I've never known anything quite like this. My initial thought was that there are loads of titles around, why do a new one?"

However, he added that after commissioning Michael Jackson: King of Pop 1958-2009, he had secured 30,000 pre-orders by midday.

Carole Tonkinson, non-fiction publisher at HarperCollins, said of its new book Michael Jackson - Legend, Hero, Icon: A Tribute to the King of Pop: "Being first is the key.

"We need to get that slot in the retailers. If our competitors sell them their Jacko book, then we're out in the cold. We need to be in the supermarket before anyone else.

"We're really proud of it. To be competitive, we have to be able to move quickly. In a way we acted like a magazine or a newspaper, putting together something beautiful and enduring - at speed."

Simon & Schuster's biography Unmasked: The Final Years of Michael Jackson has been five years in the making, with the rights only purchased by the publisher last week and final updates submitted soon after.

A spokesman said: "We believe we have the best book on the market. And we wanted to get it out there as soon as possible.

"We are the most up-to-date, too. This has certainly been the quickest turnaround that I've known."