Trump’s Book Can’t Survive at the Top in Sales

Donald Trump’s new book, “Surviving at the Top,” has toppled from the New York Times’ best-seller list after just seven weeks.

Now its publisher, Random House, may be stuck with tens of thousands of unsold copies, the Times reported today.

Trump’s first book, “The Art of the Deal” in 1987, stayed on the best-seller list for 48 weeks. Based on that success, Random House published and distributed nearly 500,000 copies of the new book and paid Trump an advance estimated at $2 million, the Times said.

Initially brisk sales since publication two months ago propelled “Surviving at the Top” to the No. 1 spot for two weeks, but the book fell from the best-seller list released Wednesday, the newspaper said.

“It is bombing heavily,” said Carla Bayha, a purchaser for Book Inventory Systems, a company that buys books for 23 independent stores.

Alberto Vitale, Random House chief executive, said, “From the financial point of view, it has not been a disaster. And even if it does prove a mistake, that’s publishing.”

Trump said he is delighted with the book’s sales. “I think it’s great,” he said. He said Random House had told him it expects to sell as many as 250,000 copies. The Times estimated sales so far at nearly 80,000 copies.