The only dark clouds predicted for Baltimore area today are the emotional ones hanging over Hillary! and her fans.
Posted on 06/20/2003 9:34:54 PM PDT by icwhatudo
Managers of the Barnes & Noble in White Marsh expect a throng when Hillary Clinton visits Monday to sign copies of her just-published book, "Living History," at the bookstore on The Avenue.
Clinton, 55, left the White House in 2001, at the end of her husband's second term as president, and is now a senator from New York. Some speculate she will run for president in 2008.
The Barnes & Noble visit will be Clinton's only stop in the Baltimore area during a promotional tour scheduled to last through mid-August, said a spokeswoman for Clinton's publisher, the Simon & Schuster Adult Publishing Group of New York.
Clinton is expected to begin signing autographs at 7 p.m.
"Based on the media attention she's been receiving recently, we're expecting a good turnout," said Kathleen McLaren, general manager of The Avenue.
Baltimore County police will assist Secret Service agents with security precautions and direct parking if necessary, said county police spokesman Bill Toohey.
Released June 9, "Living History" broke first-day records for its publisher, a division of Viacom.
About 200,000 copies were sold the first day in stores and over the Internet, said a spokeswoman for Simon & Schuster. One million copies have already been printed and 300,000 more are on order.
The book also broke a first-day sales record for Barnes & Noble.
"In the first 24 hours, we sold 40,000 copies in Barnes & Noble stores and through the company Web site," said Carolyn Brown of Barnes & Noble in New York.
Brown could not be reached Friday about in-store plans for handling the anticipated crowd.
Local managers, however, said Clinton will autograph no more than two books per customer and will not sign other souvenirs or memorabilia. The public will not be allowed to take photos.
summer reading
Darielle Linehan, owner of the Ivy Bookshop on Falls Road in Bare Hills, predicted Clinton's memoir will not have quite the impact that "Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix" will have when it hits stores Saturday.
"They printed 8.5 million copies of that book and people have been waiting for it for three years," said Linehan about the latest Potter sequel. "It's the most anticipated book of the year."
But she said sales of the Clinton book are going well at her independent store.
"It's been a very strong seller for us," she said. "There have been a significant number of pre-orders for the book, and we've been selling them every day. There's been a lot of interest."
Almost all of the buyers have been women.
Based on conversations with her sales staff, many buyers are curious about Clinton's marriage to the president and why she hasn't left him over his sexual encounters with other women, Linehan said.
"A lot of our customers are women who really admire her and they want to know why she stayed with him," she said.
Long a politician's wife, Clinton is now developing a track record as a politician herself. The 2000 Senate race was her first run for office.
"It will probably be the most popular celebrity biography of the year," said Linehan.
Linehan, who previously owned a small book store in Naples, Fla., is no stranger to crowd control.
In 2001, the prodigiously popular author Stephen King, who sometimes visited Naples, said he wanted to do a one-time book signing at her shop, Dreamcatcher.
She was delighted but knew she also had to plan. Because of his health, King could sign only 250 copies.
But she knew interest would be high. And it was.
As people from as far away as Austin, Texas, lined up outside, she issued customers numbers and color-coded cards to break the line into groups. Three of the groups were assigned later times to return so they wouldn't have to stand in line unnecessarily.
"It can be a major headache," said Linehan. "You've got to have some organization."
I'll be there with my family. Any DC chapter folks plan to be there?
Things are beginning to take shape for a VRWC-Maryland Division FReep of Her Heinous.
The wife of the "First Black President" sure does have a lot of dealings with whites-only stuff.
She lives in a house on Whitehaven Street.
Hosted a book-signing in White Plains, NY.
Hosting another book-signing in White Marsh MD.
Has hosted book-signings in other lily-white locales.
Whatsupwithat?
We stopped at Barnes & Noble in Bel Air today, and could not find Lying History. I didn't ask, but suspect that they sent their copies to the White Marsh store for the signing tomorrow.
In other news, the two stacks of Lying History at BJ's in Abingdon are exactly the same size as they were last week. (Priced at $16 they don't seem to be selling.)
The only dark clouds predicted for Baltimore area today are the emotional ones hanging over Hillary! and her fans.
It's a little less than 50 miles, according to Yahoo!, from the DC Beltway at I-95 interchange. Yahoo! says it'll take 1hr. and 7 min. for the trip.
If not this time I'm sure we'll have other opportunities to Freep.
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