March 29, 2024

Books News: Stormy Daniels’s ‘Full Disclosure’ Book Will Likely Rattle White House

The White House press office did not respond to a request for comment.

“Full Disclosure” is the latest damaging tell-all book in a succession of them, coming just after Omarosa Manigault Newman’s “Unhinged: An Insider’s Account of the Trump White House” and Bob Woodward’s “Fear: Trump in the White House,” which sold more than 1.1 million copies in its first week.

Mr. Trump’s presidency has proved to be an unexpected boon for the publishing industry, which has unleashed a barrage of juicy insider accounts. In a typical presidency, pundits and journalists have to wait years for administration insiders to spill the details. Out of either deference or self-preservation, government officials often hold off until a new administration is in place to offer their insider account. But the chaos and turmoil within the Trump administration has upended the usual Washington publishing cycle, as disgruntled ex-staff members and officials who have been pushed out or resigned churn out books at a breakneck pace, at least by the normally glacial standards of publishing.

Many of these accounts have shot to the top of the best-seller lists, often after the White House disputes the revelations or threatens legal action, prompting a fresh round of news coverage.

“The ideal thing is to have a book that Trump attacks, because that all but guarantees you best-seller status,” said Matt Latimer, a literary agent and co-partner at Javelin, which represents James Comey.

In the heated competition for the next political blockbuster, Macmillan, which owns St. Martin’s, Henry Holt and Flatiron Books, among other imprints, has often prevailed. The company has published Michael Wolff’s “Fire and Fury,” which has nearly three million copies in circulation, and the former F.B.I. director James Comey’s “A Higher Loyalty,” which has sold more than a million copies. On Tuesday, St. Martin’s announced that it had acquired a book by the former F.B.I. deputy director Andrew McCabe, who has been a regular target of Mr. Trump’s ire on Twitter. Mr. McCabe’s book, “The Threat: How the F.B.I. Protects America in the Age of Terror and Trump,” is due out this December, and covers his role in leading politically sensitive investigations into Mrs. Clinton’s use of a private email server and Russia’s efforts to sway the 2016 presidential election.

Publishers have had to become more nimble to stay relevant at a chaotic and hyperpartisan moment.

“The challenge that it poses is that the news cycle changes every day; it’s like a Ping-Pong match trying to figure out where the country’s attention is going to be,” said Jennifer Enderlin, executive vice president and publisher of St. Martin’s.

“No matter the volatility of the news cycle, there are some authors and books that will make the public stop and pay attention, and we think we have two of them,” she added, referring to Ms. Clifford’s and Mr. McCabe’s forthcoming books. “It seems fair that they get to tell their story, since Trump has the biggest megaphone in the country and he gets to say all kinds of things about them.”

Article source: https://www.nytimes.com/2018/09/18/books/full-disclosure-stormy-daniels-donald-trump.html?partner=rss&emc=rss

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