The latest book on Associate Justice Brett Kavanaugh, a critical biography from two New York Times reporters that made new sexual assault charges that were immediately undermined, has suffered an epic sales crash, according to publishing insiders.
Expected to sell at least 10,000-12,000 in the first two weeks and propel The Education of Brett Kavanaugh: An Investigation onto the newspaper’s bestseller hardcover list, it has sold about a third of that in the first two weeks.
A publishing source provided the latest BookScan numbers, which can account for about 80% of sales. That number is 3,120. “If you add in ebooks — they may have sold a total of 4,000. That’s one of the most epic bombs in political publishing over the past decade,” said the source.
By comparison, another Kavanaugh book, Justice on Trial: The Kavanaugh Confirmation and the Future of the Supreme Court, which details the Democratic war on the Trump nominee, has sold 60,000 books and a total of 100,000 copies since its July 9 debut. It was written by Mollie Hemingway and Carrie Severino and published by Regnery.
The book from Times staffers Robin Pogrebin and Kate Kelly was immediately panned by critics when a story excerpted in the paper failed to give all the details about another alleged sexual assault by the judge of a college student. Once provided, they undermined the charge.
For example, in the book but not in the initial Times coverage, friends of the alleged victim said she did not recall the attack.
The pushback by conservatives and supporters of President Trump and Kavanaugh was harsh and hurt sales, said another publishing source who has handled several Washington-related nonfiction works.
Amazon on Friday ranked The Education of Brett Kavanaugh #6,795.
