Woodward Book Hits Like Hurricane

Woodward’s “Fear” is a perfect storm for publisher Simon & Schuster

As “Florence,” a giant of a hurricane bore down this week on the southern half of the US East Coast, a giant hurricane of a book made landfall inside the Beltway on Tuesday. Bob Woodward’s Fear arrived with a flood of interviews on cable news channels, not to mention a torrent of denials from the White House.

“Right out of the gate, the book has done extremely well, with Simon & Schuster reporting a total of 750,000 copies sold on its first day of publication alone,” reports Andrew Albanese, Publishers Weekly senior writer. “That is an incredible start, of course. Barnes & Noble reports that the title was its fastest-growing adult title since Go Set a Watchman was released in July 2014.

“I expect this book will be media fodder right up through November and the midterms,” he tells CCC’s Chris Kenneally. “It’s a perfect storm for S&S, in a positive way.”

Every Friday, CCC’s “Beyond the Book” speaks with the editors and reporters of “Publishers Weekly” for an early look at the news that publishers, editors, authors, agents and librarians will be talking about when they return to work on Monday.