on May 22nd, 2007Third time’s the charm?
The publishers of the two upcoming biographies of Hillary Clinton have changed their publication dates yet again. According to The New York Times, Knopf will publish A Woman in Charge by Carl Bernstein two weeks from today, on June 5, and Little, Brown will publish Her Way by Jeff Gerth and Don Van Natta, Jr. on June 8.
This is Bernstein’s third publication date. The book was to have been published this autumn, then was brought forward to June 19. Shortly after that announcement, Little, Brown changed its publication date from August 28 to June 19, confident of going head to head.
Knopf tells The Times its latest pub date is tied to the June 3 Democratic primary debate here in New Hampshire and will begin sending copies of the book to campaign managers and the media next week. Meanwhile, Little, Brown says it has advanced publication — again — because its Hillary book will be excerpted in The Times Magazine June 3.
Perhaps someone should publish a score card.
Of course, the best-seller lists are the scorecards that count. I’ve tracked Amazon and updated my first Bernstein post daily. As of 2:30 AM EDT, Bernstein’s book’s Amazon sales rank is 17,386, down from 10,383 about twenty hours ago. Gerth  and Van Natta’s is 52,749. By the way, Amazon’s offering a deal on the pair, well under forty bucks.
Update: The power of publicity in The Times. And The Post! At 6:30 PM EDT 5/22 the Amazon ranks are: Bernstein: 4,633.  Gerth: 13,305. AM 9/9 Bernstein: #456 (up from 1,322 8/5; he was on Meet the Press that day) Gerth: #13,908.
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