# Why have publishers laid out such huge sums for Hillary and Bill's Clintons memoirs? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [July 21, 2003, 2:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-have-publishers-laid-out-such-huge-sums-for-hillary-and-bills-clintons-memoirs/189841 "2003-07-21T02:59:56Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![astro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9dc877/32.png) [@astro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astro)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2003, 2:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-have-publishers-laid-out-such-huge-sums-for-hillary-and-bills-clintons-memoirs/189841/1 "2003-07-21T02:59:56Z")
At 8 million and 12 million dillars for Hillary and Bill respectively her memoirs contained little if anything new in Hillary’s case, and it is doubtful anything new will come out of Bill’s book next year or in early 2004. Why these huge numbers? Do these books really make such a profit for the publisher that these enormous up front fees are justified? ---
**Author:** ![FisherQueen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/58f4c7/32.png) [@FisherQueen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FisherQueen)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2003, 3:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-have-publishers-laid-out-such-huge-sums-for-hillary-and-bills-clintons-memoirs/189841/2 "2003-07-21T03:09:45Z")
Judging from news reports I saw, which showed lines outside of bookstores to get Hillary’s book when it came out, I’m guessing that they do expect the books to make enough profit to make the advances worth it. Publishers aren’t philanthopists; they don’t do anything if they don’t see a potential profit in it. ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2003, 3:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-have-publishers-laid-out-such-huge-sums-for-hillary-and-bills-clintons-memoirs/189841/3 "2003-07-21T03:55:17Z")
Hillary Clinton’s book has already made a profit. There was a first hardcover printing of one million and they immediately went back to press for at least 500,000 more. It’s cover priced at $28.00. The publisher discounts the book at 40% to small customers and 50% to the super large ones, so that the first million copies sold made the publisher a minimum of $14 million dollars. Even subtracting $8 million for the author plus production and marketing fees, that means that every dollar brought in hereafter for the hardback alone is pure gravy. Add to that the magazine excerpt rights, the trade paperback rights, the mass market paperback rights, the book club rights, the audio book rights, the foreign market rights, movie rights, and a few others I can’t think of right now. If Bill Clinton’s book does as well, it will make money for the publisher even with the higher upfront fee. It’s true that many celebrity books never do make a profit, but I wouldn’t mind having 1% of what these books will make. ---
**Author:** ![Avalonian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ee7513/32.png) [@Avalonian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Avalonian)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2003, 4:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-have-publishers-laid-out-such-huge-sums-for-hillary-and-bills-clintons-memoirs/189841/4 "2003-07-21T04:40:03Z")
I dunno… a two-term former President and his wife (who is now a Senator), some measure of scandal and prurient interest attached to both. Nope, can’t imagine why publishers would be willing to pay big for this. To keep this in perspective, Stephen King received advances hovering around $15 million for some of his books at the popularity peak of his career, about 10-15 years ago. $8 and $12 million doesn’t seem so exorbitant to me, especially in 21st century dollars. ---
**Author:** ![Zenster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/cdc98d/32.png) [@Zenster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zenster)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2003, 4:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-have-publishers-laid-out-such-huge-sums-for-hillary-and-bills-clintons-memoirs/189841/5 "2003-07-21T04:45:41Z")
At the very depths of their respective nadirs, Bill and Hillary Clinton shall remain infinitely more interesting than Shrub could ever possibly be, even if that Texan holiday Wally was provided with James Burke, Gore Vidal and Walter Cronkite as a combined suppository. ---
**Author:** ![rjung](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/45deac/32.png) [@rjung](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rjung)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2003, 8:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-have-publishers-laid-out-such-huge-sums-for-hillary-and-bills-clintons-memoirs/189841/6 "2003-07-21T20:56:15Z")
Oh, I dunno, **Zenster** – I think a no-holds-barred tell-all book exposing the G.W. Bush Administration’s build-up to the Iraq war would easily outsell anything Bill or Hillary write. ---
**Author:** ![middleman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e9a140/32.png) [@middleman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/middleman)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2003, 10:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-have-publishers-laid-out-such-huge-sums-for-hillary-and-bills-clintons-memoirs/189841/7 "2003-07-21T22:58:38Z")
Nah. There’s no sex to it. ---
**Author:** ![aaslatten](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f14d63/32.png) [@aaslatten](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aaslatten)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2003, 11:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-have-publishers-laid-out-such-huge-sums-for-hillary-and-bills-clintons-memoirs/189841/8 "2003-07-21T23:31:23Z")
Somebody at those publishing houses knew what they were doing, that’s why. The first day Hillary’s book went on sale here, Barnes and Noble ran through their stock in no time. And that’s in Houston … not exactly Hillary Land. ---
**Author:** ![Diceman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/22d042/32.png) [@Diceman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diceman)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2003, 2:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-have-publishers-laid-out-such-huge-sums-for-hillary-and-bills-clintons-memoirs/189841/9 "2003-07-22T02:47:18Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by watsonwil \* > \*\*Nah. There’s no sex to it. \*\* How do you know? 😃 ---
**Author:** ![NicePete](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ee7513/32.png) [@NicePete](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NicePete)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2003, 2:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-have-publishers-laid-out-such-huge-sums-for-hillary-and-bills-clintons-memoirs/189841/10 "2003-07-22T02:57:35Z")
Cause Republicans are against sex, duh. Sheesh, you don’t think Dick Nixon ever engaged in _coitus_ do ya? They reproduce by budding.