To be honest, 82,000 for a non-fiction book is a huge week. Not for Hillary’s book because of the huge advance but there hasn’t been a non-fiction book this year that has sold 82,000 copies in a week. It’s not uncommon for a book that sells 20-30,000 copies in a week to be No. 1 on the non-fiction list.
It is a debacle because of the $14,000,000 advance. It will never be recouped and that is equal to the entire profit that Simon and Schuster made in 1st quarter. This debacle wipes out 25% of their annual earnings.
Ben Carson’s sold 33,000 his first week and that was No. 1 as well. Robin Robert’s book was No. 1 on the list in early May and only sold 17,000. Dave Ramsey’s sold 75,000 the week that his book was No. 1. There have been several weeks this year when the No. 1 selling non-fiction hardcover sold fewer than 15,000 copies. Robert Gates sold 80,000 his first week.