Edward Kosner, the former editor and publisher of New York, where Schwartz worked as a writer at the time, says, “Tony created Trump.
The book expanded Trump’s renown far beyond New York City, making him an emblem of the successful tycoon. More than a million copies have been bought, generating several million dollars in royalties. The book was a phenomenal success, spending forty-eight weeks on the Times best-seller list, thirteen of them at No. Schwartz had ghostwritten Trump’s 1987 breakthrough memoir, earning a joint byline on the cover, half of the book’s five-hundred-thousand-dollar advance, and half of the royalties. Schwartz dashed off a tweet: “Many thanks Donald Trump for suggesting I run for President, based on the fact that I wrote ‘The Art of the Deal.’ ” Trump, facing a crowd that had gathered in the lobby of Trump Tower, on Fifth Avenue, laid out his qualifications, saying, “We need a leader that wrote ‘The Art of the Deal.’ ” If that was so, Schwartz thought, then he, not Trump, should be running. He feels “deep remorse.” Illustration by Javier Jaén “I put lipstick on a pig,” Tony Schwartz, the ghostwriter, says.
