The publisher behind Bob Woodward’s latest book, “Rage,” is expecting its biggest payday yet from its books tied to President Trump.
Following the Wednesday release of the cover and title by Simon & Schuster Wednesday ahead of its Sept. 15 release, pre-orders for the book propelled it to the No. 3 spot on the Amazon bestseller list.
S&S has already enjoyed two bestsellers tied to Trump this year. First came the anti-Trump book, “Too Much and Never Enough: How My Family Created the World’s Most Dangerous Man,” by the president’s estranged niece, Mary Trump. That title, in turn, has a new rival in “Live Free or Die: America (and the World) on the Brink,” a pro-Trump book from Fox News talking head Sean Hannity that hit last week.
Mary Trump’s book hit on July 15 and set a one-day sales record for the publisher with 950,000 copies sold in all formats. It has since gone back for a 19th printing and boasts 1.5 million copies in print. Hannity, meanwhile, has gone back for four printings since hitting shelves on Aug. 4 and now has 635,000 books in print.
Insiders who get an advance look say The New York Times weekly bestseller list to be published Aug. 23 will show Hannity’s book has grabbed the No. 1 spot.
The bestselling “The Room Where It Happened,” by the president’s former National Security Adviser John Bolton, also reached bestseller status following its June release, despite — or perhaps because of — the White House efforts to block the tell-all. A Trump family member also sought to try to block the publication of the Mary Trump tome. The courts eventually cleared both for publication, although the White House is still trying to grab Bolton’s reported $2 million advance.
S&S would not disclose the size of the first printing of the Woodward book, but the bar is being set even higher on this one than Woodward’s 2018 bestseller “Fear” or the other bestselling political books this year.
“‘Rage’ is the most important book Simon & Schuster will publish this year,” Simon & Schuster CEO Jonathan Karp told CNN.