From ‘Trump Survival Guide’ to ‘Hillbilly Elegy,’ book publishing turns to all things political
As the nation hotly debated President Trump’s surprise election, Vroman’s Bookstore in Pasadena began stacking pocket-sized copies of the U.S. Constitution near the registers early this year because customers kept asking for them.
The Last Bookstore in downtown Los Angeles set up a display of dystopian literature after seeing heightened interest in books such as George Orwell’s “1984” and Sinclair Lewis’ “It Can’t Happen Here.”
And in 12 fevered days, author Gene Stone wrote “The Trump Survival Guide” so that his publisher, HarperCollins’ Dey Street Books unit, could rush it to stores in time for the Jan. 20 inauguration of Donald Trump as the nation’s 45th president.
The business of publishing and selling politically themed books moved front and center with the dawn of the Trump era in Washington. Books about all things Trump, including the societal trends that helped put him in office and the ideals of those virulently opposed to the president and his agenda, are still enjoying a sales boost after his Nov. 8 defeat of Hillary Clinton.
Customers “are trying to get a sense of who he is and what is happening,” said Katie Orphan, the Last Bookstore’s manager. “Books about him and in response to him are certainly selling better than books by him.”
The arrival of a new president from a different party from the predecessor typically flushes out a flock of fresh political tomes, experts note. But this time, it’s particularly pronounced, “propelled by this intense concern and interest in politics right now,” said Andrew Hsiao, U.S. publisher of left-leaning Verso Books.
