Q. When's the last time a government committee report hit the national bestseller lists?
A. Almost six years ago, when The Starr Report became the hot-button book du jour in the fall of 1998. The report's two editions (from Prima and Public Affairs) debuted in the top two spots on PW's September 28, 1998, trade paper list; they remained on the list for four weeks and three weeks, respectively.
Now comes a work that has galvanized the book-buying public, one that literally has taken three years to reach publication. It's The 9/11Commission Report: Final Report of the National Commission on Terrorist Attacks upon the United States, which was published by Norton a week and a half ago; it lands atop PW's trade paperback list this week. It's also the #1 book on last week's USA Today list and on the August 8 New York Times list. As Norton publicity director Louise Brockett noted, "We've heard that it's by far the fastest selling book in America."
The numbers certainly bear out that report: first-week sales at the three major chains (Barnes & Noble, Borders and Waldenbooks) totaled 112,286 copies, approximately four and a half times more than sales of the second-place title—Nicholas Sparks's The Wedding, which sold 24,746 copies. Interestingly, first-week sales for The Starr Report at the three chains came very close to that figure—just over 109,000 copies (though that figure accounts for two separate editions).
The book's release was a major logistical feat. According to Brockett, "There were four and a half days between the time the Commission completed its report and when the book was available for sale nationwide." On Thursday, July 22, the Commission presented its report at a nationally televised press conference in Washington at 11:30 a.m. Brockett reported that books were delivered and went on sale starting at just about that time and into the afternoon. The first printing was about 600,000 copies, more than 500,000 of which were delivered to stores on July 22. Norton has already gone back for an additional 200,000 copies.
And how did Norton come to publish the book? The "unprecedented decision" to publish the report was made a number of months ago, Brockett said: "They wanted to make their report available nationwide the very same day the report was presented in Washington. To that end, they looked at proposals from various book publishers. Norton was chosen as the authorized publisher on the basis of certain criteria. Affordability: we pledged to make the report available as a $10 trade paperback; accuracy: we would publish exactly what the Commission wrote, with no material added or subtracted, with no alterations of any kind; availability: we planned to deliver the book to stores on the same day the report was released in Washington; longevity: Norton president and chairman W. Drake McFeely vowed to 'take whatever steps are necessary to ensure that this historic document is available to the American public for generations.'"
"It's almost too vast to summarize," said Brockett when asked about the level of media attention. Every news organization in the nation has covered the findings of the Commission as a leading and continuing news story since July 22. The following day, the book's cover was pictured prominently on the front pages of the New York Times, the New York Daily News, the New York Post, Newsday, the Washington Post, the Boston Globe, FinancialTimes, etc., etc. The publication and sale of the book have been discussed in media including—in addition to the above—USA Today, the Wall Street Journal, Time, Newsweek, the Associated Press, Reuters, Dow-Jones News Service, CNN, C-SPAN, NPR and TV and radio broadcasts across the country. "It's enormously gratifying," said Brockett, "to see that people are reading this for themselves, as opposed to relying solely for their information on news commentators and media sound bites."
—with reporting by Dick Donahue
