Former US President Donald Trump has reportedly made $20 million from his memoir, a glossy coffee table photo book featuring withering put-downs of his political enemies and lavish praise of his friends.
In just two months since ‘Our Journey Together’ was released, signed copies of the book – which cost $230 – have all sold out, while unsigned copies ($75) are not available until March.
“We did an initial print run of 200,000 copies but still can’t keep up with the customers,” Sergio Gor, a longtime Republican operative who founded Winning Team Publishing to publish the book, told CNN.
The company has now issued a request for 300,000 more copies to be printed.
The memoir is unlike most other presidential tomes in that it is a photo book and features uncensored captions written by the former president.
Next to one picture of him and Democrat House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Mr Trump wrote: “Attempting to listen to crazy Nancy Pelosi in the Oval Office – such natural disagreement.”
Next to another picture of her, he scrawled: “She was screaming and shaking like a leaf, she’s f***ing crazy, hence the name ‘Crazy Nancy.'”
Mr Trump also took aim at Mark Zuckerberg, the Facebook founder, saying “Mark Zuckerberg would come to the White House and kiss my ass. His censorship is terrible for America. His ‘campaign contributions’ even worse.”
But praise was afforded to some of Mr Trump’s allies.
“Boris is one of a kind and a fantastic leader of the United Kingdom. He will go down as the best PM since Winston Churchill,” Mr Trump wrote in a caption with British Prime Minister Boris Johnson.
“I’ve never seen a presidential book that’s really a hatchet job of other people,” John Reznikoff, founder of University Archives, told CNN.
He added that despite Mr Trump putting his name on hotels, steak houses, golf clubs and branded caps, the signature represents huge value.
Sources told CNN that the book has grossed $20 million in less than two months since it went on sale.
“It’s the closest thing to printing money I can come up with,” said Mr Reznikoff, pointing to signed copies of Barack Obama’s “A Promised Land,” which are selling on auction sites for around $600.
Mr Trump still has a long way to go if he is to reach the dizzying sales heights of Mr Obama.
A Promised Land, which was released in November 2020, set a first-day sales record of almost 890,000 copies and the first-week record of 1.7 million copies. The initial 3.4 million-copy run was increased to 4.3 million due to high demand.
George W. Bush sold two million copies of his memoir ‘Decision Points’ in the first month, while Bill Clinton’s ‘My Life’ has sold 2.2 million copies since its release in 2004.
Critics would argue that the comparison in sales is not fair given the huge difference in pricing.
Mr Obama’s book, for example, cost $45 upon release.
Hillary Clinton’s 2017 memoir, What Happened, which explored her failed 2016 bid for the presidency, secured 300,000 first-week sales.