Posted on 04/30/2003 4:04:37 AM PDT by Liz
Memoir: Sen. Hillary Clinton's 'Living History' goes on sale June 9, but Simon & Schuster has no bids yet for excerpt.
Plans to print a million copies of Sen. Hillary Clinton's memoir are so far missing a key detail - the name of the magazine that will run an excerpt before the book goes on sale June 9.
The word is that Simon & Schuster has asked only a limited number of mags if they wanted to consider "Living History" for an excerpt and has yet to show them the manuscript. And none has bid yet.
Such exposure, a virtual certainty with such a high-profile title, typically earns a publisher or author a nice check while also trumpeting a book's arrival.
But three mags that have carried excerpts of other books - The New York Times Sunday Magazine, Vanity Fair and Newsweek - answered inquiries from the Daily News by saying they don't plan to publish a piece of Clinton's memoir.
The New Yorker also is believed to be staying on the sidelines.
It was unclear if all four of the mags were among those approached by Simon & Schuster, which bought rights to publish the former first lady's book around the world for $8 million.
At the same time, a U.S. News & World Report spokesman said the mag is interested.
Time and People, both owned by Time Inc., appear to be the other likely contenders.
Their level of interest may depend on how much Clinton reveals about her White House years and marriage.
Newsweek editor in chief Richard Smith told The News: "It's fair to say that, given our significant spending on Iraq and other international coverage, we're looking very carefully at any spending on optional items."
Meanwhile, more than a month before the book's release, there was evidence of why Simon & Schuster ordered a million-copy printing.
At online bookseller Amazon.com, "Living History" was ranked No. 2,630 in orders late Monday, the day Simon & Schuster announced the on-sale date and title. By late yesterday, the book stood at No. 73.
The rival BN.com showed the book at No. 618,267 on Monday, but up at No. 13 yesterday.
For the online booksellers, these are real sales already made with credit cards.
Book Revue, a bellwether independent store in Huntington, L.I., has ordered "several thousand" copies, according to co-owner Richard Klein.
By contrast, unsold copies in stores can be returned to the publisher.
"Sen. Clinton will sign books on June 24, but even if she weren't coming, I would have ordered a lot of copies," he added. "She inspires a great deal of interest and I think it's going to be a powerhouse book."
A publisher faces a big risk with a huge printing, as Random House was reminded in 1996.
Bill Clinton's "Between Hope and History," a collection of political views released on the eve of his reelection campaign, became a best-seller and then a big flop. Of the 500,000 copies printed, 425,000 remained unsold at the end of the year.
The on-line buyers will take delivery. The books will be shipped before the bad reviews come in. This must be quite a balancing act for the publisher -- generating interest without releasing enough of it to reveal how empty it will be.
....and it will bomb like her latest film disaster, "Swept Away"..........
Check to see if the DNC received a Clinton "donation" to make the book purchases.....
Anyone who spots McAwful dragging a U-Haul from bookstore to bookstore should post it here.
LOL .. I didn't realize he had a book out before
Book Revue, a bellwether independent store in Huntington, L.I., has ordered "several thousand" copies, according to co-owner Richard Klein. "Sen. Clinton will sign books on June 24, but even if she weren't coming, I would have ordered a lot of copies," he added. "She inspires a great deal of interest and I think it's going to be a powerhouse book."
(1) Start here to confirm the legitimacy of the book "order."
(2) Also, is the putative sale of the books to LI individuals payback for Hitlery's WH pardons, and other WH favors to Dumbocrats?
The key numbers will be sales in the third and fourth week.
Another thing to remember that in the publishing business, author advances are based on the expected sales, and profits, the publisher expects. Hitlery's world-record advance assumes world-record profits for S&S.
Typical publishing contracts have a clause for the author returning some of the advance money if the sales don't match expectations. Also, expenses involved in returning unsold books comes out of the author's advance.
Does anyone want to bet whether there is such a standard clause in Hitlery's contract? Or if there is, that it will be enforced? I think her book contract is as big a state secret as her college thesis.
If S&S loses its ass on this deal, it can claim it on its taxes as a bad investment, and the American taxpayer winds up subsidizing an illegal contribution to Hitlery. Is this a great country, or what?
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