As 2010 ends, corporations are showing widely varying reactions to WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange.

On Monday, New York publishing firm Alfred A. Knopf told the media the company had signed a deal with Assange for his autobiography “prior to the holidays.”

Assange, who masterminded the Nov. 28 release of a flood of secret US diplomatic cables, told a magazine of London the deal would bring in more than $1 million. He claimed $800,000 would come from Knopf and roughly $500,000 would be paid by British publisher Canongate.

“I didn’t want to write this book, but I have to,” Assange told the daily. He claimed to have already spent the equivalent of $310,000 on legal costs. “I need to defend myself and to keep WikiLeaks afloat,” he told the paper.

Assange is currently under house arrest in Britain, fighting extradition to Sweden for alleged crimes including rape and sexual molestation.

Hearings on the issue are slated to begin Jan. 11. He has denied all of the charges. US Attorney General Eric Holder has said he is looking at various options for prosecuting the release of US secrets by WikiLeaks