What does 8 million for a book dear buy.
Clinton's Last Book Flopped Bigtime
If sales of ex-President Clinton's last literary effort
are any indication, his new publishers are about to take
a huge bath on the $10 million book deal they just inked
for his memoirs.
Sonny Mehta, president and editor-in-chief of Alfred A.
Knopf announced the record-breaking contract Monday
afternoon, saying Clinton had "lived an extraordinary
life, and he has a great story to tell."
Presumably, Knopf's parent company Random House thought
Clinton had a great story to tell in 1996, when they
decided on an initial run of half-a-million copies for
his first book, "Between Hope and History: Meeting
America's Challenges for the 21st Century."
But sales weren't as brisk as expected. In fact, despite
oodles of publicity and reviews in all the major
newspapers, the Clinton book flopped bigtime.
A little more than a year after its publication, the
Boston Globe noted that Random House was "choking on
returns" of "Hope and History," which had sold a mere
100,000 copies.
And that was back when he was a sitting president who was
on TV practically 24 hours a day.
Here's how the Chicago Sun-Times chronicled the Clinton
book's slow slide into oblivion:
"President Clinton's Between Hope and History, a $ 16.95
book-length essay, sold only a small fraction of the
nearly 500,000 copies printed. After as many as 350,000
copies were returned to Random House, the publisher
offered the book for $ 5."
Today the Clinton book sells used on Amazon.com for
$1.48.
Sure, "Hope and History" was heavy on policy and light on
the kind of revelations that make political books sizzle.
But does anyone seriously think Clinton's next screed,
set for release in 2003, will be loaded with new Sexgate
revelations?
Will he, for instance, finally explain where he was on
the morning Juanita Broaddrick says he raped her? Or
chronicle the details of his relationship with other
women he once told Monica Lewinsky numbered into the
"hundreds."
We won't be holding our breath. Too bad Knopf didn't hold
onto its wallet.
newsmax.com
tom watson tosiwmee |
