Comey’s Author Gig Paying Off: 700,000 Books Sold First Week, Better than Hillary or Wolff 

Former Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) Director James Comey, who was fired by President Donald Trump in May, is having success with his new gig as an author of an anti-Trump book.

The book’s publisher reports, A Higher Loyalty: Truth, Lies, and Leadership, reached 600,000 in sales in print and other formats in the first week of release and now is at more than 700,000.

That’s much better than other recent political books that have hit the shelves.

Reuters reported:

Clinton’s “What Happened” sold more than 300,000 copies, including hardcover, e-book, CD and digital audio, in its first week after publication in September 2017, according to CBS Corp-owned (CBS.N) publisher Simon & Schuster.

Wolff’s portrayal of a disorganized West Wing filled with strife and aides questioning the president’s fitness to lead debuted in January with some 28,000 in sales. Higher-than-expected demand led Macmillan imprint Henry Holt & Co to order up 2.1 million copies in its first week.

Wolff’s book (“Fire and Fury: Inside the Trump White House”) has sold nearly 975,000 print copies, and Clinton’s memoir has sold some 511,000 total print copies, according to NPD BookScan.

Flatiron Books, a division of privately-owned Macmillan, reported it has printed more than one million copies of Comey’s book but did not say whether the first-week sales were global or in the United States, according to Reuters.

Nonetheless, some bookstores are saying they are seeing lackluster local sales of Comey’s book.

The San Francisco, California-based SFGate reported:

Carl Hall stopped in at his independent bookstore, Christopher’s on Potrero Hill, and was surprised to discover that the new James Comey book, “A Higher Loyalty: Truth, Lies and Leadership,” was selling like coldcakes. Hall, a loyal customer, was moved to buy a copy.

Store owner Tee Minot said people have been asking about the book, but not buying it, in contrast to the demand for Michael Wolff’s “Fire and Fury.” “I think people wanted the gossip of ‘Fire and Fury,’” she said. “I almost think there was too much of a media blitz for this book. All the juicy parts have already been excerpted or talked about on TV or in interviews.”

San Francisco Gate reported in two days, Green Apple bookstore had sold 11 copies, compared to Wolff’s book, which “sold out of the first order in hours,”  manager E.H. Mann, said. “We literally had a wait list.”

“In Laurel Village, closest perhaps to the neighborhoods that might include the largest (although small in S.F.) proportion of Trump supporters, manager Ingrid Nystrom also said the Comey book is ‘doing well,’ but sales do not compare to those of ‘Fire and Fury,'” SFGate reported.

“The first hour we had Michael Wolff’s book, we sold as many as we’ve sold (of the Comey book) for the last three days,” Nystrom said.