George W. Bush joins 'presidential million book sales club'

[Jeffersons Ghost]

Media Analysis: George W. Bush joins 'presidential million book sales club'
By: "Piers Morgan Tonight" Digital Producer Steve Krakauer

(CNN) - Former President George W. Bush has been all over the media recently promoting his new book "Decision Points," which delves into key moments from his presidency and gives an honest assessment of his past struggles with alcohol and more. All this has brought Bush 43 into an elite group of former (and current) Presidents – the million book sales club.

However, it has competition. It's a song by Eric Clapton called "Cocaine."

President Bush sold 775,000 copies his first week, landing him at number one on the New York Times Bestsellers List. But factoring in some of week two, the former President has now sold 1.1 million copies, including 135,000 by e-book. "Decision Points" is currently ranked #1 on Amazon and #2 on BN.com (behind Mark Twain).

While the 775,000 figure is strong for week one, it was not as much as former President Bill Clinton's autobiography, "My Life" which sold 900,000 its first week. Of course, there were, well, certain salacious stories many readers were particularly interested in regarding Clinton's time in the White House that didn't apply to President Bush. Still, both presidents are in the One Million Club. Others on the list include current President Barack Obama, whose two books have sold a staggering four million-plus copies and Jimmy Carter, who has more than two million books sold – but achieved the feat with well over a dozen books written.

President Bush started his book tour with a revealing, wide-ranging interview with NBC's Matt Lauer, in which he talked about everything from 9/11 and Iraq to his intriguing reason for becoming pro-life (that involved Barbara Bush and a fetus in a jar). There was also that beef, and eventual reconciliation, with musician Kanye West. Bush also made a stop on the all-important Oprah couch. In these and each subsequent interview, Bush stressed his goal of staying above the political fray – and he has. While he was certainly polarizing as president, the apolitical media tour has only been positive for book sales.

I doubt if any of these people actually wrote a single word in these books. As usual, ghost writers did all the real work.

http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2010/11/24/media-analysis-george-w-bush-joins-presidential-million-book-sales-club/

[baldguy]

1. Soon to be crowding the $2 bin in a thousand bargin book stores.

[krispos42]

8. We need to call Thursday Next from Jurisfiction... they've got a rogue volume

Obscure?

[Initech]

2. Maybe the copies I see gathering dust at Costco count?

:shrug:

[david13]

3. There's a sucker born every minute. Or I guess I should say a

stupid sucker born every minute.
dc

[AndyTiedye]

4. Bulk Sales to Wingnut Organizations

[LastLiberal in PalmSprings]

10. Hardcover is $35 but e-book is only $9.99

If you're a multi-billionaire, how hard is it to spend $1.5 million for 150,000 e-books? You could probably get a volume discount. You wouldn't even have to have a place to store them -- just download the books to a portable hard drive and toss it in the trash.

Of course, you could buy the hardcover version just to piss off the environmentalists. Who cares about those damned trees, anyway?

[Angry Dragon]

5. How many have been read??

[chollybocker]

6. America's door jams cannot be denied!

[WinkyDink]

7. Please. AS IF Richard Mellon Scaife or his ilk don't have thousands in their basements.

[gateley]

9. I think the word sales needs to be in quotation marks. nt