'Office' colleagues Mindy Kaling and BJ Novak confirm book project

May 30, 2015. Actress Mindy Kaling, left, talks to actor BJ Novak during a panel discussion at BookCon at the Jacob K. Javits convention center in New York. (The Associated Press)

Mindy Kaling and BJ Novak say they are indeed writing a book together.

The two were on a panel at BookCon on Saturday at the Javits Center in New York. It was organized around Novak interviewing Kaling about her upcoming second book entitled "Why Not Me?" due out in September.

The 35-year-olds, who worked together on NBC's comedy "The Office," both as writers, producers and supporting cast members, say they just started working on the book project and it won't be out for a while.

"It's very early in the creative process," Novak said.

Kaling was more enthusiastic.

"It's going to be awesome," she said. "We just started working on it. I love working with him ... and the ideas that we've had so far have been super exciting."

The book will be published by Penguin Random House, and the deal is worth at least $7 million, according to two publishing officials with knowledge of the negotiations. The officials were not authorized to discuss the contract terms and spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity.

On "The Office," their characters had an on-again off-again dysfunctional relationship and Kaling has publicly said the two have also dated in real life. She now calls Novak her best friend and the two alluded to their romantic history more than once Saturday, to the squeals and laughter of audience members.

Kaling said her first book of essays, 2011's best-selling "Is Everyone Hanging Out without Me (And Other Concerns)" was more to "introduce the world to me." She wrote it while she was still working on "The Office." Her second book focuses on her life since her first book. She describes it as "incredibly honest and vulnerable."

Kaling is also the executive producer and star of "The Mindy Project," a comedy that was just canceled by Fox after three seasons but picked up by Hulu for 26 episodes.

"I'm so excited," said Kaling, adding that the writer's room for that show resumes work on Monday.

Novak is also a best-selling author. He released a book of short stories and a children's book last year.

BookCon a two-day, literary version of Comic-Con, is designed to drum up excitement from fans about books and reading. Other well-known authors taking part include John Green and Judy Blume.