7-figure advance expected as publishers weigh book based on Amanda Knox diaries

Amanda Knox is reportedly expected to clinch a seven-figure advance on a memoir based on the contents of diaries she kept before, during and after the murder of Meredith Kercher, her British room mate.

The Independent wrote that a proposed memoir based on the diary had sparked a bidding war between America's wealthiest publishers: Simon & Schuster, Random House, Penguin and Harper Collins.

The Hollywood Reporter and others, meantime, have reported that Knox recently signed a deal with Washington power agent Robert Barnett to represent her in a future book deal.

Barnett handled the book deals for President Barack Obama, former presidents George W. Bush and Bill Clinton, as well as music artist Elton John, among others. 

And the New York Times reported that Knox had been using considerable charm on editors, publicists and senior executives from interested firms — she came across as "soft-spoken, smart, almost scholarly," the paper wrote.

She and Barnett reportedly offered them "the true and unvarnished story of what happened in Perugia, Italy." 

However, the paper asserts, any publisher of the memoir would be taking a significant risk, as the murder case behind Knox’s story "is complex, disturbing and still hotly debated by an American public that loves to take sides when it comes to did-she-or-didn’t-she crime tales."

The Hollywood reporter quoted a publisher who has decided not to bid on her book as saying: "I think it’s a huge gamble for somebody. It’s not like she has been exonerated in a clear and definitive way."

Knox was tried and found guilty of killing her roommate, Meredith Kercher, in 2007, and sentenced to 26 years in an Italian jail.

Her ex-boyfriend Raffaele Sollecito, who has himself signed with a Seattle literary agent Sharlene Martin, was initially sentenced to 25 years.

After serving nearly four years behind bars, both had their conviction overturned.

Knox returned to the United States in late 2011, but has not even agreed to a TV interview.