Tony Blair's A Journey is seventh on Amazon list and Waterstone's
reports rise in pre-orders two weeks before release
Alison Flood and Matthew Taylor
Wednesday August 18 2010
The Guardian
http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2010/aug/17/tony-blair-book-preorder-sales
Tony Blair's autobiography has jumped up the Amazon bestseller chart
since it was announced yesterday [http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/
2010/aug/16/tony-blair-british-legion-donation" title="] that all
proceeds from the book will be given to the Royal British Legion.
The charity dismissed suggestions that it may miss out [http://
www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/politics/tony-blair/7949199/Questions-over-size-of-Tony-Blairs-book-royalty-donation-to-Royal-British-Legion.html"
title="] on the advance paid to Blair, reported to be ?4.6m, if the
former prime minister fails to sell enough copies of A Journey.
"There is absolutely no doubt about it whatsoever," said a spokesman
for the Legion. "It is categorically part of the deal that has been
done, we are getting the advance and any royalties that come on top of
that."
The book was hovering below 50th place in Amazon.co.uk's bestseller
chart at the weekend but by this morning it had moved into seventh
spot with two weeks to go before publication, sitting ahead of already
published bestselling titles by authors including Dan Brown, Stephenie
Meyer and David Nicholls.
Waterstone's said it had also seen a significant increase in pre-
orders for the book, up almost 400% since it announced last Thursday
that Blair would be signing copies at its Piccadilly branch on 8
September.
"We have had a huge amount of interest," said Jon Howells, a spokesman
for the chain. "It's the first memoirs of a prime minister since John
Major, which was over 10 years ago. These books are important books:
they come along very rarely and are by their very nature
controversial."
It was announced yesterday that Blair is to donate the proceeds from
the memoir to the Legion's Battle Back Challenge centre for injured
troops returning from the frontline.
Chris Simpkins, the director general of the armed forces charity, said
he was delighted to accept the "very generous" offer ? the largest in
the organisation's history. But some families who have lost loved ones
in the conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan greeted the move with
suspicion.
Rose Gentle, an anti-Iraq war campaigner whose 19-year-old son,
Fusilier Gordon Campbell Gentle, was killed in Basra in 2004, said she
was pleased injured troops would benefit but said it would not change
the way she felt about Blair.
"I have spoken to other parents and everyone is agreed that this
doesn't make any difference. It is OK doing this now, but it was
decisions Blair made when he was prime minister that got us into this
situation. I still hold him responsible for the death of my son."
It is understood that Blair has signed over all rights connected with
the book in perpetuity ? including any money that may be made in
subsequent television or film deals. A source with knowledge of the
agreement said: "It is everything. There is no wriggle room
whatsoever."
Industry insiders say Blair may struggle to sell enough books to earn
back the ?4.6m advance, but publishers say he will not be asked to
return the money. The publisher John Blake estimated that A Journey
would have to sell more than a million copies to break even, "and very
few books do sell a million ? I would be amazed if they ever earned
the advance back."
But he added: "Publishers just don't ask for advances back ? they're
our risk, something we have to take on the chin if a book doesn't
work."
Success or failure will depend to a large extent on how well the book
does in the US market. Bestsellers there can easily top a million
copies ? Sarah Palin's memoir, Going Rogue, sold 300,000 copies in its
first day on sale; Bill Clinton's My Life sold 400,000 in its first 24
hours. Margaret Thatcher's The Path to Power, seen as hugely
successful in the UK, has sold around half a million hardbacks to
date.
guardian.co.uk Copyright (c) Guardian News and Media Limited. 2010
--
You received this message because you are subscribed to the "USA-Africa Dialogue Series" moderated by Toyin Falola, University of Texas at Austin.
For current archives, visit http://groups.google.com/group/USAAfricaDialogue
For previous archives, visit http://www.utexas.edu/conferences/africa/ads/index.html
To post to this group, send an email to USAAfricaDialogue@googlegroups.com
To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to USAAfricaDialogue-
unsubscribe@googlegroups.com
No comments:
Post a Comment