Midler Between the Covers

By Stephen M. Silverman

04/02/1998 at 12:00 AM EST

Bette Midler isn't mad about last month's cancellation of her CBS sitcom. She's too busy getting even. PEOPLE reports that the Divine Miss M, 55, has signed a $1 million-plus book deal with Simon & Schuster to write about the travails of the axed show. "Canceled," as the tome (due this fall) will be called, "will be big" an S&S rep tells the magazine. "Bette Midler is still very popular." As are, it would seem, books by TV stars, no matter how long their run. Fran Drescher, it was reported earlier this month, sold her upcoming memoir, "Cancer Schmancer," to Warner Books in a world-rights deal worth $1 million. (Warner Books, like PEOPLE, is part of AOL Time Warner.)