Donald Trump and bestselling books
It is not a secret. The United States president has turned the world upside down and not a day goes by without something related to him. The books recently published by people who were once close to Trump top the bestseller list. Everyone wants to know a little more about the most controversial man on the planet.
Since January, each book at the top of the New York Times bestseller list has had one thing in common: US President Donald Trump. James Comey's A Higher Loyalty book will surely keep the streak alive. Comey's high-profile launch also highlights the broader effects that Trump has had on book sales. The # 1 spot on the Times hardcover non-fiction list is an incredibly coveted territory in the publishing industry. Fire and Fury by Michael Wolff landed there in mid-January thanks to explosive accusations and a presidential attack at its fullest.
Fury remained in the number 1 spot until Russian Roulette by Michael Isikoff and David Corn appeared in March. The book, subtitled The internal history of Putin's war in the United States and the election of Donald Trump, was at the top for three weeks. Then, it was dethroned by Dear Madam President: An Open Letter to the Women Who Will Run the World, a book by Jennifer Palmieri, former Communications Director of the Hillary Clinton campaign. Of course, the connection with Trump is also obvious here: Palmieri's book is a reflection of Clinton's defeat and a message of motivation for future candidates.
Palmieri has even anticipated that Comey's book, released on Tuesday, will replace her at the top of the Times list. "I'm grateful to have had my week before I come to crush my dreams again," joked Palmieri on CNN's Reliable Sources. Palmieri's "again" comment was a reference to Comey's controversial announcement about the reopening of a Clinton email inquiry just 11 days before the election. Clinton and many of her allies say that Comey took a turn in the election in favor of Trump. Until Fire and Fury appeared, book number one was Walter Isaacson's acclaimed biography of Leonardo da Vinci. A non-Trump book will surely have a new turn in the first place, but not now. It is virtually guaranteed that A Higher Loyalty will take first place later this month.
The publisher, Macmillan, has printed 850,000 copies in anticipation of intense public interest. What happens is that Trump's impact on book sales is multidimensional. Although it attracts more attention to certain books, agents and publications executives are worried that it is also hurting sales of non-political titles. This has also been a recurrent concern among the authors: the constant news coverage of all Trump's affairs is detracting attention from other topics and therefore from other books. The Times publishes its bestseller lists every Wednesday, and there is some time lag between the release of a book and its ranking on the list.
