The Mystery of The Secret Man

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The Mystery of The Secret Man

On July 15, the daily Publisher's Lunch e-mail offered a startling piece of nonfiction sales news: "Another recent big release, Bob Woodward's THE SECRET MAN, is reported to have moved 17,900 copies in its opening week on sale, following an announced first printing of 850,000 copies and a laydown of somewhat less than that."

The relatively uninspiring number raised a few eyebrows in publishing circles. The 850,000 hardcover print run for Woodward's memoir about Deep Throat had suggested a certain confidence on the part of Simon & Schuster--conjuring images of a mad rush on bookstores as for a Clinton memoir or Harry Potter installment. Woodward's history should have given reason for optimism: At least 12 previous Woodward books have made the New York Times bestseller list in hardcover; the least successful of them spent 11 weeks on the chart, as reported by the Times Book Review.
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