Opinion: Writing the book on books
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If you want to be president of these United States, you better write a book. Or have one written for you.
Almost all of the current crop of 17 presidential candidates has written a book, which can give them a sense of gravitas, allow them to portray themselves and their ideas unfiltered by other media, and provide a convenient excuse for interviews and free airtime that their political ideas alone might not command.
Plus the reader actually pays for the book experience. And the candidate gets some dough too, though nowhere near as much as they’ll earn for memoirs after they get elected and finish in office.
But a new poll indicates a significant chunk of Americans are not much into book reading.
John McCain and Joe Biden are the newest authors on the campaign trail, the Republican senator with ‘Hard Choices’ and the Democrat with ‘Promises to Keep: On Life and Politics.’ Last year, according to financial disclosure forms studied by the Associated Press, McCain earned $80,390 in royalties from his four previous books while Biden got $224,000 for his book.
Hillary Clinton last year took in $350,025 in royalties for her 2003 book, ‘Living History.’ Chris Dodd got a $30,000 advance for ‘Letters from Nuremberg,’ due out next month, John Edwards got $333,334 for ‘Home: The Blueprints of Our Lives’ and Barack Obama reported a $425,000 advance for ‘The Audacity of Hope.’
Bill Richardson received between $15,000 and $50,000 in royalties for ‘Between Worlds: The...
Making of an American Life,’ the same range of income Tom Tancredo got for ‘In Mortal Danger: The Battle for America’s Border and Security.’ Sam Brownback got $75,000 for ‘From Power to Purpose: a Remarkable Journey of Faith and Compassion’ and Rudy Giuliani is still getting revenue ($146,092 in 2006) from a 2002 book, ‘Leadership.’
Mike Huckabee garnered more than $150,000 for two books, ‘From Hope to Higher Ground’ and ‘Quit Digging Your Grave with a Knife and Fork’ about his loss of 110 pounds. That works out to about $1,450 per pound.
Duncan Hunter, Mitt Romney, Dennis Kucinich, Mike Gravel and Ron Paul reported no 2006 book income, though all but Hunter have written books.
The bad news is that a new Associated Press-Ipsos Poll finds one in four American adults (actually 27%) read not one single book last year.
Among those who did read books, on average women read more books (9) than men (5), college graduates read the most and people over 50 read more than the younger set. People from the West and Midwest read more than other regions, women read all kinds of books while men favor nonfiction, and while two-thirds of the 1,003 respondents reported reading the Bible or religious books, those who never go to church read nearly twice as many books as those who do attend services.
Never mind whether anyone actually reads these politicians’ books, Hillary Clinton got $8 million for her book in 2000, only $500,000 shy of the record advance for Pope John Paul II’s book in 1994. If she got that much for just being first lady, imagine her haul for Vol. II if she gets elected president.
--Andrew Malcolm