Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis has yet to announce his likely 2024 presidential campaign, but he’s already leading the political field by one metric: political memoir sales.
The Republican’s book, “The Courage to Be Free: Florida’s Blueprint for America’s Survival,” sold 94,300 copies in its first week, in line with BookScan, a U.S. print book data service. It was the top-selling book for the week it got here out, BookScan found. The memoir was released on Feb. 28.
That figure trumps the first-week sales of other major politicians’ memoirs — including a 2015 effort by former President Donald Trump, who’s currently seen as a number one candidate in the possible 2024 Republican primary field.
That book, “Crippled America,” sold 27,687 copies in its first week, in line with BookScan.
The information service, owned by market research giant NPD Group, told CNBC it covers roughly 85% of trade print books sold within the U.S. Its data is predicated on weekly reporting from major retailers including Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Walmart, Goal and independent bookstores, amongst other sources.
DeSantis’ conservative culture warfare on issues starting from Covid-19 safety measures to classroom discussion of LGBTQ issues has made him a top figure within the GOP. The Florida governor is within the midst of a book tour that on Friday took him to Iowa, the first-in-the-nation presidential caucus state.
DeSantis’ book sales also appeared to far outpace recently published memoirs by a handful of other Republicans who’ve either launched 2024 presidential campaigns or are considering it, in line with BookScan.
Former Vice President Mike Pence’s “So Help Me God,” released last November, sold 37,600 print copies in the primary week, while “Never Give an Inch: Fighting for the America I Love” by former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo sold 34,600.
Former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley sold just 7,900 copies of her book “If You Want Something Done: Leadership Lessons from Daring Women,” the primary week after its publication last October. Haley became Trump’s first major primary challenger when she threw her hat within the ring last month.
After all, book sales alone don’t guarantee a politician’s future success. Former Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton sold 86,200 print copies of her 2014 book “Hard Decisions” in the primary week, BookScan data showed. But Clinton would go on to lose to Trump within the 2016 election.
Meanwhile, BookScan said former President Barack Obama’s book “The Audacity of Hope,” which preceded his history-making 2008 White House run, sold 67,500 print copies in its first week.
Publishing a strategically timed memoir can often be a precursor to a political run, with the books helping introduce a would-be candidate to a recent audience.
Additionally they may be lucrative for politicians, yielding significantly more cash than their salaries.
However the books are sometimes derided for presenting a sanitized version of a politician, revealing little about their past or personal life and offering a self-serving primer on their record and policy views. The Latest York Times’ searing review of DeSantis’ recent book, as an example, said it made the governor appear to be a “mechanical try-hard” exuding a “bullying sense of superiority.”
On Friday, DeSantis’ book was listed No. 1 within the hardcover nonfiction category of the Times bestsellers’ list.
In 2011, DeSantis published “Dreams From Our Founding Fathers: First Principles within the Age of Obama” with High-Pitched Hum Publishing, reportedly a Jacksonville, Florida-based company that authors pay to print their books.
“The Courage to Be Free” was published by Broadside Books, a conservative imprint of HarperCollins, which is owned by Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp.
Meanwhile, DeSantis’ potential rival, Trump, is about to return into the book market. This week, he announced “Letters to Trump,” a photograph book compiling his correspondence with a wide selection of celebrities over several a long time.
Trump’s second photo book since he left the White House in 2021 is ready for release on April 25.
