A controversial book detailing allegations of sexual misconduct against Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh has suffered such terrible book sales, it is being described by industry insiders as “one of the most epic bombs in political publishing over the past decade.”
Released last month, The Education of Brett Kavanaugh: An Investigation by New York Times reporters Robin Pogrebin and Kate Kelly was expected to sell at least 10,000-12,000 in the first two weeks, according to the Washington Examiner’s Paul Bedard.
But even with the New York Times and the rest of the mainstream media’s help promoting the book, it has only sold about a third of that in the first two weeks.
A publishing source provided the latest BookScan numbers, which can account for about 80% of sales. That number is 3,120. “If you add in ebooks — they may have sold a total of 4,000. That’s one of the most epic bombs in political publishing over the past decade,” said the source.
By comparison, another Kavanaugh book, Justice on Trial: The Kavanaugh Confirmation and the Future of the Supreme Court, which details the Democratic war on the Trump nominee, has sold 60,000 books and a total of 100,000 copies since its July 9 debut. It was written by Mollie Hemingway and Carrie Severino and published by Regnery.
“Justice On Trial” was Amazon’s top-selling book overall and ranked No. 1 on Publisher’s Weekly when it first debuted in July. It is still ranked No.1 in the “Judicial Systems” category and No. 3 in “Courts and Law” category on Amazon.
The New York Times’ bungled its roll-out of new allegations from the book by failing to note that the alleged victim of one incident didn’t remember the alleged assault, a key point made first by the Federalist’s Mollie Hemingway. Then they promoted their piece with a shockingly inappropriate tweet that was reportedly written by Pogrebin herself.
“Having a penis thrust in your face at a drunken dorm party may seem like harmless fun,” it read. “But when Brett Kavanaugh did it to her, Deborah Ramirez says, it confirmed that she didn’t belong at Yale in the first place.”
After a major backlash, The Times deleted the tweet and apologized.
“A tweet that went out from the @NYTOpinion account yesterday was clearly inappropriate and offensive,” the Times said. “We apologize for it and are reviewing the decision-making with those involved.”
A publishing source told the Examiner that “the pushback by conservatives and supporters of President Trump and Kavanaugh was harsh and hurt sales.”
The Education of Brett Kavanaugh was ranked #6,795 on Amazon’s best seller list on Friday.