Trump book boom goes bust as sales plummet in second term

Americans appear to be growing tired of reading about President Donald Trump as new data shows sales for books about the president have fallen dramatically during Trump’s second term when compared to his first, Politico reported.

“[Trump] is so familiar to everyone by now, and people are less shocked by new revelations because it enforces their own ideas about who he is or they just don’t care,” an author of a recent Trump book told Politico Tuesday.

Books on Trump sold by the millions during the president’s first term; Bob Woodward’s “Fear: Trump in the White House” sold 1.1 million copies in its first week after publication, the fastest-selling book in its publisher’s history. John Bolton’s “The Room Where It Happened” sold around 780,000 in its first week, and James Comey’s “A Higher Loyalty” sold around 600,000.

Fast forward to Trump’s second stint in the White House, however, and Trump books are barely exceeding 20,000 in hardcover sales.

“Everyone is desperately looking for the next Michael Wolff or James Comey for next year, but it’s not clear there could ever be one again,” a publisher told Politico Tuesday.

Among the most successful Trump books to be published since Jan. 20 of this year has been conservative journalist Salena Zito’s “Butler: The Untold Story of the Near Assassination of Donald Trump and the Fight for America’s Heartland.” The book sold around 23,000 hardcover copies during its first week, despite Trump himself promoting the book on social media ahead of its release.

Another book from journalists Isaac Arnsdorf, Josh Dawsey and Tyler Page, “2024: How Trump Retook the White House and the Democrats Lost America,” sold around 6,000 hardcover copies in its first week, and Alex Isenstadt’s “Revenge: The Inside Story of Trump’s Return to Power” sold around 3,000.

Michael Wolff, whose 2018 book “Fire and Fury” sold more than 25,000 copies in its first week and would go on to sell close to one million, sold just 3,000 physical copies of his latest book, “All or Nothing: How Trump Recaptured America.”

The dwindling sales numbers have even led some publishers to pull back on enticing authors with lavish offers, at least on books in the political space.

“Editors are not spending anywhere near the amount of money that they did this time eight years ago,” said an unnamed book agent to Politico. “The days of just writing a book to write a book and checking the box for someone’s career – those days are over.”