Save this article to read it later.
Find this story in your accountsSaved for Latersection.
It wasnt that they disagreed, exactly.
Some years, the choice is pretty clear.
Theres no denying Trump has sparked an avalanche of book sales, said Jim Milliot,PWs editorial director.
But after weeks of debate, the staff didnt pick him.
Knopf Publicity VP Nicholas Latimer summed it up in one line, and a pained expression.
We dont have any Trump books, he said.
I wish we did, but Im glad we dont.
The same goes for book publishers many of them owned by media giants.
Most of the years best-selling books have been connected to the president in one way or another.
(Then there are self-help books but, well, people need help.)
Trump isnt the first president whos been good for the books.
President Trump, no reader himself, is another creature entirely.
But those tweets havent had much impact.
And the contents are different, Risbridger added.
The big sellers under Obama were Bushs memoir andGame Change, about the 2008 campaign.
This years blockbusters were ripped from (and fed) the headlines and all of them were about you-know-who.
Therein lies the conundrum for publishers.
Even Amy Einhorn, James Comeys editor and publisher, was ambivalent about the subject of her big seller.
Trump sucks the oxygen out of the room in everything he touches.
When people in publishing say oxygen, they usually mean publicity.
It used to be that you could be pretty confident how it would all play out, she explained.
Once you lose your slot, its not easy to get the author back in.
It can be even worse for fiction authors.
Its the distraction, said Anna Stein, a literary agent at ICM.
There were a lot of people who couldnt even read fiction for months after the election.
I dont think theres tons of resentment, because there are years when nothing works.
The biggest books this year were critical of the president, but conservatives have benefited, too.
People are not going to Trumps twitter account for book recommendations, Nelson said.
Nor is Trump a foolproof sales multiplier.
Sean Spicers book sold about as well as Trump-branded steaks.
(Not well.)
Don Jr.reportedlycouldnt persuade anyone to give him a book deal.
Publishing is always a gamble, even when the most attention-grabbing president in history is on the cover.
Before meeting Comey, we were dubious, Einhorn told me.
Everyone on the left hated him and everyone on the right hated him as well.
But the meeting completely changed how we thought about the project.
Comey is a born storyteller.
Paul Bogaards, Knopfs publicity director, tried to take the long view.
Its a trend, okay?
Trends dont last forever.
The question now is, how much more can be written about this administration?
The bestselling fiction title of the year wasThe President Is Missing, a political thriller co-written by Bill Clinton.
This whole period has been somewhat of a bonanza, he added.
Its one of the few silver linings of the era.
