For Holt, Unexpected Demand for ‘Fire and Fury’ Proves a Challenge

Michael Wolf’f, who is currently doing the rounds promoting his White House tell-all Fire and Fury, is having one of those once-in-a-lifetime publishing moments. His book, in the span of a little over a week, has gone from a blip on the radar to a cornerstone of the national conversation. It’s the topic of conversation at water coolers, in the media, and at the White House. The only problem? Getting a copy of it. Intense demand for the book has caught its publisher, Henry Holt, off guard as the Macmillan imprint scrambles to get copies into the marketplace.

Gauging a book’s traction in the marketplace and setting its print run is, arguably, one of the trickiest aspects of the publishing process. And Holt, in this instance, got it very wrong. Fire and Fury, which became a hot commodity last week after bombshell comments it contained from former (and current) White House staffers were released early by the media, is currently out-of-stock at the major chains, Amazon and independent bookstores. It’s available in limited supply at most libraries.

Amazon said in a statement that “due to a last-minute change in the release date [of the book] and heightened interest, we are working with the publisher to fulfill print book orders as quickly as possible.” The book is currently #1 in all major formats at the retailer (print, e-book and audio), with Amazon estimating it could be as much as two to four weeks before it can ship copies.

The independents, too, have been struggling with low stock. As PW reported late last week, many stores had not anticipated the demand. Some stores, especially those on the East Coast, were also dealing with slowdowns due to intense winter weather and the so-called Bomb Cyclone storm.

Barnes & Noble, the country’s largest bricks and mortar bookseller, was also without copies of the title as of late last week. B&N said it expected new copies to reach stores later this week. Fire and Fury was #1 in both hardcover and e-book at B&N and sold more digital copies than print.

The county’s two largest wholesalers were also out of copies of the book this weekend. Ingram told PW after running out of copies over the weekend it was set to receive “thousands” and books today and thousands of additional copies throughout the next week at all of our distribution centers. “We are filling orders as these books are received,” the spokesperson said, adding that any account is encouraged to place a backorder for the book.
more at:  https://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/industry-news/publisher-news/article/75766-for-holt-unexpected-demand-for-fire-and-fury-proves-a-beautiful-disaster.html