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NEWS >POLITICS > SARAH PALIN MEMOIR TOPS BEST SELLER LISTS DESPITE LACK OF PICTURES
SARAH PALIN MEMOIR TOPS BEST SELLER LISTS DESPITE LACK OF PICTURES
October 2 2009
New York, NY – Despite only having been on the scene for a little over a year Sarah Palin has become one of the most dynamic and divisive figures in the history of American politics. Her meteoric rise from small town Mayor to Governor to Vice- 
Presidential candidate to icon of the Republican Party has been documented ad nauseam and now, with the release of her memoir ‘Going Rogue’ only a month away from release Palin will finally have an interrupted opportunity to document that experience.
Already the memoir is selling like crazy, topping the pre-sale lists on both Amazon and the Barnes & Noble website, bumping out fellow conservative commentator Glenn Beck and best-selling author Dan Brown. That success perhaps shouldn’t come as a shock to many political watchers who fully realize how influential the former Governor has become but many fear a backlash once the book reaches the hands of readers. That concern comes largely from the nature of the book which features very few pictures and an average of 400 words per page, though they are double-spaced. That trepidation is also concerning publisher HarperCollins who have requested that all pre-orders are accompanied with a disclaimer indicating that the book indeed has very few pictures.
“We are overjoyed at the pre-sale success of Sarah Palin’s memoir. She is one of the most compelling and charismatic politicians in the country today and this success illustrates the rabid public interest in her and what she has to say. We feel this memoir accurately portrays the former Governor in the light she deserves and is the most thorough portrayal of her life yet,” said a spokesperson for the publisher. “We do want to make people aware that there are a significant number of pages in this book, 432 to be exact, and the majority of them are filled with text. There are small sections with photographs of the Palin family and of the former Governor herself but the majority of the pages are indeed filled with text. We simply would like people to be aware of that before spending their hard-earned money on the book.”
HarperCollins, like many American publishers, have been struggling through the recession. Palin was reportedly paid between 7 and 11 million dollars as an advance against the memoir making it a risky gamble for the company.
“The real concern for HarperCollins is a backlash. They will be able to push a lot of books out initially but the long tail will be significantly harmed if people come away from the book with a bad taste in their mouths. Audio books, soft covers, and of course reprints are major money makers for publishers and that will be lost if there is backlash towards the book,” said Scrape TV Business analyst Ken Green. “Simply put they need this to be a success and they have to be careful. That’s not to say that everyone interested in reading about Palin will be disappointed that it isn’t a picture book but those who have basic literacy skills will likely see it for what it is and dismiss or embrace it on those grounds. It’s the masses that need to buy into the book and those are the people most likely to be offended by the lack of pictures.”
It is not believed that Palin herself has read the book despite the fact that she wrote it. It was apparently a part of her contract with the publisher that the pages contain primarily text.
“This book is a big gamble for everyone involved. It will no doubt engage the diehards but the fence sitters, the people who will ultimately decide the future of the book and the future of Palin herself, that need to be won over. That is why the pages are primarily text filled, because most of them are literate, but that isn’t a guarantee of success,” Ultimately Palin is going for the big dollars and the big acclaim whether or not she runs for President sometime in the future. This book, pictures or no, will go a long way towards deciding how that will play out.”
According to HarperCollins a pop-up section for the book was dropped at the last minute.
Edward Bastil, Political Correspondent
NEWS >POLITICS > SARAH PALIN MEMOIR TOPS BEST SELLER LISTS DESPITE LACK OF PICTURES
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