bookpublishing

Although my company didn’t get on the ball when a book about Sarah Palin was pitched, another company did. Publisher’s Weekly reported yesterday:

John McCain surprised most when he chose Gov. Sarah Palin of Alaska to be his running mate—and the only book available on Palin is, unsurprisingly, from an equally dark horse publisher: Epicenter Press, which has its primary office in Kenmore, Wash., and publishes books about Alaska and the Pacific Northwest.

The book is Sarah: How a Hockey Mom Turned Alaska’s Political Establishment Upside Down by Kaylene Johnson. It was published in April 2008 as a $19.95 hardcover featuring 50 photographs. Its first printing was only 7,000 copies. Clearly they had no idea how popular this book would become. Their first reprint (before the news broke) was 3,000. Ok 10,000… still on the low end for a political book, I’d think; but I guess it was very regional. So of course first thing Friday morning they get a call from Barnes & Noble requesting 15,000 copies. What a great way to end the week! After the first print run of 7,000 plus the reprint for 3,000, they printed another 40,000 copies. Lucky them.

I guess this book was the reason why we didn’t publish another. I can’t even imagine the shock that author must have had when McCain announced Palin for VP.

EDIT: A commentary from Kayleen Johnson, author of Palin’s biography, was posted on the CNN frontpage today. In good marketing form, it leads in with a plug for the aforementioned book.