“Fear,” Bob Woodward’s inside look at the Trump White House, has broken its publisher’s record for first-week sales, Simon and Schuster announced on Tuesday.
The publishing house said that “Fear” sold more than 1.1 copies in e-books, audio books, and print copies in its first week — which was the top mark in its 94-year history. Simon and Schuster didn’t disclose its previous 7-day record holder.
“There is only one word to describe the sales of ‘FEAR’ –and that word is huge,” Jonathan Karp, president and publisher of Simon & Schuster, said in a statement. “What’s especially gratifying is the appreciation readers and reviewers have for the integrity and importance of Bob Woodward’s reporting.”
The book’s content is taken from hundreds of hours of interviews with aides, first-hand participants and witnesses conducted on “deep background,” as well as from meeting notes, personal diaries and government documents. President Trump himself did not sit down for an interview with Woodward.
“Fear” portrayed Trump as a disorganized and unprepared commander-in-chief — with the president’s cabinet members often scrambling to control his worst impulses. White House Chief of Staff John Kelly is described as frequently losing his temper, telling colleagues that the president is “unhinged,” Woodward wrote.
“He’s an idiot. It’s pointless to try to convince him of anything. He’s gone off the rails,” Kelly said in one small meeting, according to Woodward. “We’re in Crazytown. I don’t even know why any of us are here. This is the worst job I’ve ever had.”
Trump tweeted earlier this month Woodward’s book was full of “many lies and phony sources.”
https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1037173907625832448
A 10th printing, expected to push the book’s sales to 1.2 million, has been ordered by Simon and Schuster, the publisher said on Tuesday.