In a Week, Clinton's Book Is Already in the Black

The Wall Street Journal ^ | Monday, June 16, 2003 | JEFFREY A. TRACHTENBERG

[TroutStalker]

Only a week after Simon & Schuster issued Hillary Rodham Clinton's "Living History," the publisher says the book is in the black, already making back Sen. Clinton's $8 million advance. Sales are believed to be in the range of 600,000, or 60% of the one million copies that Simon & Schuster initially printed. The company has since gone back to the presses for an additional 500,000, which will bring the total number of hardcover copies in print to 1.5 million.

[isthisnickcool]

Give them a few more days and they will be saying that she has outsold the Bible..... /sarcasm off

[OldFriend]

Lying History/Lying Publisher

[dfwgator]

If Hillary put out a record album, they'll say she has already sold more records than Elvis and The Beatles combined.

[ClearCase_guy]

Publishers typically receive half of a book's retail price, in this case about $14. ...
it is estimated that Ms. Clinton's royalty on each book is $4.20.

I keep hearing that the book is availabel for 15.00 at many locations. How much of that goes to the outlet making the sale? How much to Hillary? How much to the Publisher? The money is not as black as they pretend.

[vannrox]

There is no way that this is accurate. No way.

[tm22721]

All this proves is that sex sells.

BUMP

[fnord]

what was once a scandal for Tom Foley becomes accepted behavior for the Clintons.

[sirchtruth]

There is no way that this is accurate. No way.

Why not, and who cares! If she sells a trillion copies of this trash do ya think people will believe what's in it?

I want as many people as possible to get a hold of this BS and read it so they can know who this lying SOS is.

Only the hardcore are ever gonna drink the koolaide now.

In order for her to get any majority of support Bush has to tank and tank bad!

[TC Rider]

Publishers typically receive half of a book's retail price, in this case about $14. ...
it is estimated that Ms. Clinton's royalty on each book is $4.20.

From what I saw at the big box store, this could get ugly. They were selling for $15.88. So far it appeared they had sold only one copy, for a profit of $1.88

We'll see who's smiling at Simon & Shuster when the remainders start flooding back in.

[dark_lord]

What -- you don't think there are at least 1 million DemonRats willing to buy the book? Of course there are.

[TLBSHOW]

Hillary is a Pop Star now and that is all she is...

problem is she is a Pop star with power

[Mamzelle]

This is so bogus. Is there even going to be a way to establish the truth of her sales, with all this rosy fog?

[TommyDale]

These numbers have been debunked. The number of 200,000 was based on pre-orders by major distribution. The book is already being discounted 40% in Ralph's stores. The publisher has a warehouse that is full, and insider estimates are only for 350,000 total -- not a million as reported by lying publishers. Anyway, who cares? There aren't a million Hillary lovers who can even read!

[PLMerite]

"Give them a few more days and they will be saying that she has outsold the Bible..... /sarcasm off"

I'll wager a few of them already think it *is* the Bible.

[jriemer]

What -- you don't think there are at least 1 million DemonRats willing to buy the book? Of course there are.

I won't be surprised if there's tens of millions maybe even hundreds of million of her books sold. The question is whether or not the book will ever be shipped to individual customers / retailers. I suspsect that her NGO / union friends bulk purchased copies of the book. These books will just move from the unsold to the sold sections of a shipping warehouse and never see the light of day. They will just gather dust until they are shredded to make recycled paper for a future polemic.

The main purpose of the book is not to be read but to generate media attention and make it appear that Sen. Hillary! has a following that extends well beyond the confines of New York state. This is just a tool towards a national election strategy. She's not getting any younger and she needs to prime the pump for future national office.

[fnord]

Although I don't doubt the publisher's publicist is lying, don't underestimate the selling power of this so-called 'book'.

• Think of all the Dims who will buy a copy that goes unfinished after the wordy and excruciatingly dull first chapter ...
  
  
• Think of all the NEA-run schools that will buy a dozen copies to gather dust on their library shelves ...
  
  
• Think of all the colleges that will require students to buy a copy for some mental-masturbation political theory class ...
  
  
• Think of all the special interest groups that will buy a hundred copies to go a-moldering in their storerooms ...
  
  
• Think of all the corrupt liberal politicians who will buy a thousand copies as payment to the Democratic protection racket ...
  
  

Yep, it could end up selling quite a few copies.

[ClearCase_guy]

Is there even going to be a way to establish the truth of her sales, with all this rosy fog?

I doubt it. I believe that almost 20 years ago Eddie Murphy made a movie ("Coming to America") that earned $200 million at the box office. That was a very big deal 20 years ago. Then there was a lawsuit over who actually contributed to the screenplay. A judge ruled that a certain percentage, or perhaps a certain dollar amount, from the profits had to go to the plaintiff. Creative accounting kicked in and the studio found that (sniff, sniff) they had actually lost money on that movie and (sadly) did not have to pay the plaintiff a dime.

It's like lying with statistics. Real easy, if you know what you're doing.

[Blood of Tyrants]

At the Barnes and Noble website it is not even in the top 100 sellers of the year, being beaten out by "Who Moved My Cheese?" #30 and "Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants" #71.

And at Amazon, it is not even in the top 25.

This is looking more like hyping the book in hopes that the tail will wag the dog.

[Snowy]

At the Barnes and Noble website it is not even in the top 100 sellers of the year, being beaten out by "Who Moved My Cheese?" #30 and "Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants" #71.

Barnes and Noble won't even post negative reviews of the book. I think I will boycott them from now on, which will be hard because there's a store very close to me and we enjoy going there. Has anyone called B & N and asked how they think the book is #2 when the numbers don't add up? If someone has an explanation of the numbers, please explain it to me. I really don't care where it's selling, but I want honesty.