The record number of new hardcover nonfiction bestsellers to hit one of PW's weekly bestseller charts was 90 titles, set back in 2002. While we don't yet have the final figures for 2004, we do know that so far there have been more than 30 new bestsellers in the political category. (Politics has been the main game in nonfiction in election year 2004, and this bestseller pundit states unequivocally that never before have there been so many bestsellers on this subject in one year.) This week, three more titles land on our list, all among the top 10: Ann Coulter's
How to Talk to a Liberal (if You Must) from Crown Forum; Michael Moore's
Will They Ever Trust Us Again? from Simon & Schuster; and Richard Miniter's
Shadow War: The Untold Story of How Bush Is Winning the War on Terror from Regnery.
Coulter's book landed in the #3 position and was launched with a 400,000-copy printing. Crown began its publicity blitz with Sean Hannity's radio show and Fox News'Hannity & Colmes on the eve of the book's October 4 on-sale date. The following morning, the author appeared on Good Morning America, Imus, and then she did more than 50 talk radio and cable news shows during the book's first week on sale. Expect her to be highly visible on the talk show circuit through the presidential election.
