WOODWARD / Sales Lag for Book on Deep Throat
EDWARD WYATT The New York Times
It is the ultimate Washington story, told by the ultimate Washington chronicler. But in Washington and just about everywhere else, sales of "The Secret Man," Bob Woodward's story of the source known as Deep Throat, have been underwhelming.
At Politics and Prose, a well-known independent bookstore in Washington, sales were "not very good, compared to expectations," said Mark LaFramboise, who ordered 400 copies of the book for the store. As of last week, Politics and Prose had sold "60-something," he said.
"I expected it to be a blockbuster," he said. "I was wrong."
At Prairie Lights Books in Iowa City, "the book didn't sell at all," said Jim Harris, the store's owner. Of the 50 copies he ordered, Mr. Harris said, only 4 have sold, and he has sent 40 back to the distributor.
"I was flabbergasted," he said.
By most measures, the performance of "The Secret Man" would be an unquestioned success. The book, Mr. Woodward's account of his relationship with the source who
helped him and Carl Bernstein break open the Watergate scandal in the early 1970's, has sold 61,000 copies in its first five weeks on sale, according to Nielsen BookScan, which tracks sales in bookstores and other outlets that usually account for about 70 percent of a new book's sales.
The book has also been on the New York Times best-seller list for five weeks, starting at No. 4 and ranking No. 12 on the list to be published Sunday, reflecting sales in the week ended Aug. 6. (That list is available here.)
But compared with sales of Mr. Woodward's recent books, "The Secret Man" is a laggard. "Plan of Attack," about the Bush administration's preparations for the war in Iraq, sold 183,000 copies the week it went on sale in April 2004, according to BookScan, and it sold about six times as many copies in its first five weeks as "The Secret Man" did.
Mr. Woodward said yesterday that while he always wanted his books to sell as many copies as possible, he focused more on the content of a book than its sales.
"Obviously the publishers, because of historical curiosity or the significance of it, I think expected more," Mr. Woodward said. "It obviously was not as much as some of my other books, but I don't know how much a writer can get involved in trying to second-guess that."
David Rosenthal, the publisher of Simon & Schuster, which has published all 13 of Mr. Woodward's books, said he was pleased with the book's performance.
"It's been a fantastic best seller," Mr. Rosenthal said. "I think it has been, given our expectations, a success, and we expect more out of the book. I think it will have a long life both in hardcover and eventually in paperback."
One factor that may have hurt sales was the widespread publicity about the identification of Deep Throat as W. Mark Felt, who was No. 2 at the F.B.I. in the Watergate years. That publicity included an article by Mr. Woodward in The Washington Post that was drawn from his manuscript for the book.
Five weeks elapsed from the disclosure of Mr. Felt's identity in an article in Vanity Fair magazine to the publication of the book.
Comparison with earlier books, of course, is difficult. "Plan of Attack" was published in the heat of both a presidential election campaign and the very war on which it was focused, one that has caused great divisions in American public opinion.
"The Secret Man," on the other hand, was published in midsummer of a nonelection year and covers events that began 35 years ago, when a young Mr. Woodward, a Navy courier delivering documents to the White House, first struck up a conversation with a mysterious man who was also waiting for a meeting in the West Wing.
Mr. Rosenthal declined to say how many copies of the book were published by Simon & Schuster, which rushed the book into print after Vanity Fair released a story on May 31 that identified Mr. Felt as Deep Throat. Some publications have reported that the publisher announced a first printing of 750,000 copies, but Mr. Rosenthal said that number was not accurate and that the actual printing "was considerably less than that."
He added that since the disclosure of Mr. Felt's identity, Simon & Schuster had also enjoyed an unexpected burst in sales of "All the President's Men," both in trade paperback and in a new mass-market paperback edition.
According to BookScan, the mass-market edition of "All the President's Men" has sold 3,200 copies since it was released on June 15, though that number does not include outlets that probably account for many more sales, like airport stores, drugstores and mass merchandisers like Wal-Mart. The trade paperback edition of "All the President's Men" has sold 14,000 copies since the beginning of the year, BookScan said.
It is the ultimate Washington story, told by the ultimate Washington chronicler. But in Washington and just about everywhere else, sales of "The Secret Man," Bob Woodward's story of the source known as Deep Throat, have been underwhelming.
At Politics and Prose, a well-known independent bookstore in Washington, sales were "not very good, compared to expectations," said Mark LaFramboise, who ordered 400 copies of the book for the store. As of last week, Politics and Prose had sold "60-something," he said.
"I expected it to be a blockbuster," he said. "I was wrong."
At Prairie Lights Books in Iowa City, "the book didn't sell at all," said Jim Harris, the store's owner. Of the 50 copies he ordered, Mr. Harris said, only 4 have sold, and he has sent 40 back to the distributor.
"I was flabbergasted," he said.
By most measures, the performance of "The Secret Man" would be an unquestioned success. The book, Mr. Woodward's account of his relationship with the source who
helped him and Carl Bernstein break open the Watergate scandal in the early 1970's, has sold 61,000 copies in its first five weeks on sale, according to Nielsen BookScan, which tracks sales in bookstores and other outlets that usually account for about 70 percent of a new book's sales.The book has also been on the New York Times best-seller list for five weeks, starting at No. 4 and ranking No. 12 on the list to be published Sunday, reflecting sales in the week ended Aug. 6. (That list is available here.)
But compared with sales of Mr. Woodward's recent books, "The Secret Man" is a laggard. "Plan of Attack," about the Bush administration's preparations for the war in Iraq, sold 183,000 copies the week it went on sale in April 2004, according to BookScan, and it sold about six times as many copies in its first five weeks as "The Secret Man" did.
Mr. Woodward said yesterday that while he always wanted his books to sell as many copies as possible, he focused more on the content of a book than its sales.
"Obviously the publishers, because of historical curiosity or the significance of it, I think expected more," Mr. Woodward said. "It obviously was not as much as some of my other books, but I don't know how much a writer can get involved in trying to second-guess that."
David Rosenthal, the publisher of Simon & Schuster, which has published all 13 of Mr. Woodward's books, said he was pleased with the book's performance.
"It's been a fantastic best seller," Mr. Rosenthal said. "I think it has been, given our expectations, a success, and we expect more out of the book. I think it will have a long life both in hardcover and eventually in paperback."
One factor that may have hurt sales was the widespread publicity about the identification of Deep Throat as W. Mark Felt, who was No. 2 at the F.B.I. in the Watergate years. That publicity included an article by Mr. Woodward in The Washington Post that was drawn from his manuscript for the book.
Five weeks elapsed from the disclosure of Mr. Felt's identity in an article in Vanity Fair magazine to the publication of the book.
Comparison with earlier books, of course, is difficult. "Plan of Attack" was published in the heat of both a presidential election campaign and the very war on which it was focused, one that has caused great divisions in American public opinion.
"The Secret Man," on the other hand, was published in midsummer of a nonelection year and covers events that began 35 years ago, when a young Mr. Woodward, a Navy courier delivering documents to the White House, first struck up a conversation with a mysterious man who was also waiting for a meeting in the West Wing.
Mr. Rosenthal declined to say how many copies of the book were published by Simon & Schuster, which rushed the book into print after Vanity Fair released a story on May 31 that identified Mr. Felt as Deep Throat. Some publications have reported that the publisher announced a first printing of 750,000 copies, but Mr. Rosenthal said that number was not accurate and that the actual printing "was considerably less than that."
He added that since the disclosure of Mr. Felt's identity, Simon & Schuster had also enjoyed an unexpected burst in sales of "All the President's Men," both in trade paperback and in a new mass-market paperback edition.
According to BookScan, the mass-market edition of "All the President's Men" has sold 3,200 copies since it was released on June 15, though that number does not include outlets that probably account for many more sales, like airport stores, drugstores and mass merchandisers like Wal-Mart. The trade paperback edition of "All the President's Men" has sold 14,000 copies since the beginning of the year, BookScan said.
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