Going Rogue: Number One With A Bullet

Before "Radio & Records" and other competing industry magazines, the business of music and music radio had but one industry bible -- "Billboard" magazine. Billboard's Hot 100 chart was the be-all and end-all which told program directors which records were hot and which were not. The magazine used an icon -- which came to be known as a "bullet" -- to designate those records that had entered the charts in a high position, risen rapidly in the charts, and/or was considered to have the potential for further rapid advancement up the list. Any record that was "number one with a bullet" was the stuff of the music business' precious metals -- gold and platinum.

Although the book business is not directly comparable to the music industry, the extraordinary sales performance of her memoir makes it safe to say that Sarah Palin's Going Rogue is the book world's version of "number one with a bullet":

According to figures released yesterday by The New York Times, Palin’s memoir, Going Rogue, sold 469,000 copies in its first week of release. That makes the book number one on Nielsen BookScan’s bestseller’s chart. Palin’s book lands on the chart ahead of I, Alex Cross by James Patterson, Under the Dome by Stephen King, and The Lost Symbol by Dan Brown, which ranked number two, three, and four respectively. HarperCollins, the publisher of Going Rogue, has stated that the book actually sold 700,000 copies in its first week of release. The publisher explained the higher sales figure by stating that Nielsen BookScan doesn’t keep a record of sales from mass market retailers such as Walmart and Sam’s Club. If the 700,000 figure is accurate, that places Palin’s memoir ahead of Living History, the 2003 memoir by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.

A HarperCollins rep travelling on the book tour bus with former Gov. Palin has said that the memoir sold 300,000 copies on the first day that book stores were allowed to put it on the shelves. The first printing of the book called for a run of 1.5 million copies. last week, HarperCollins has announced a second printing of another one million copies.

Examiner Jeff Barbour says that Going Rogue is such a success story that more than a few political analysts have opined that it may provide Sarah Palin with the means to relaunch her political career. From our point of view, that is exactly what she is doing.

More from NielsenWire, Wilson Research Strategies and Bloomberg.com.

- JP

Reaction to 'Going Rogue' - Round Three

Here are some more quotes you can use to make Palin-hatin' leftists foam at the mouth...

bRight & Early:

"Sarah Palin’s book, Going Rogue, won’t be released for another nearly 50 days. A situation that is sure to cause liberal heads to explode, Going Rogue is #1."

JammieWearingFool:

"Meanwhile, Barack Obama reportedly has called up his ghostwriter Bill Ayers and asked him to rush to print a new book of "his own" tentatively entitled Dreams of Myself."

Serr8d's Cutting Edge:

"Don't try this at home, Dems. All of the top-selling books r belong to us."

Dave Woodard, Clemson University political scientist:

"The left hates her for a reason, and they are afraid of what she can do."

Colleen O'Conner:

"The popular California bumper sticker, 'Keep On Honking. I’m Reloading' may capture the mystery that is Sarah Palin."

FireAndreaMitchell.com:

"#1 on Amazon and #1 on Barnes and Noble best seller list, and its not even out until mid-November! I bet Letterman hates this too."

Carter Clews:

"The real reason the far left hates Sarah Palin, of course, is that she embodies -- top to bottom, inside and out -- all that they hate to the very marrow of their poisonous bones... [She] is an outright affront to the ruinous situational ethics by which the left defines its very existence."

Politically Drunk On Power:

"Wednesday provided a solid victory for Palin as the deranged attacks upon her backfired and she accomplished the feat of unseating the Internet sales ranking of two newly released best-sellers."

Dan Gilgoff:

"Just look at the title: Going Rogue. With the book already in the No. 1 slot on Amazon, the pitch seems to be resonating."

Alamo City Pundit:

"I love this woman. I love any decent sister in Christ who can go toe-to-toe with Libs and drive them wild just by being honest."

Savage Indignation:

"I trust Gov. Palin will continue to be the focus of support not only for us Constitutionalists, populists, paleoconservatives, libertarians, and values voters, but also for all you Republicans of good will out there who think McCain, Grahamnesty and Lamar Alexander... and the rest of those country-club Viagravators should get bent."

Larry Croft:

"Mrs. Palin has been beat up ad nauseam but she doesn’t pick herself up and make a comeback. Instead, from what I see, she keeps on going without breaking stride."

Puma For Life:

"I can’t think of a more classic battle than one between The One and Sarah Palin; that is, if the press can contain themselves and, instead of slandering Palin’s character, report on the issues."

Chet Nichols:

"Oh, and that irony thing, it hurts too. 'Going Rouge' is the term that many of the left-wing media used while trying to belittle her. Whew…that’s gotta sting!"

McClatchy Watch:

"Going Rogue: An American Life should be fascinating for those of us who watched the Anchorage Daily News and McClatchy's DC bureau toss their ethics out the window in their determination to savage Sarah Palin."

There are more where these came from. Stay tuned...

- JP

Reaction to 'Going Rogue' - Round Two

Web trip!

Via National Reviews's The Corner, Rick Santorum:

"Sarah has... been hammered by the mainstream media. This is an opportunity for her to show a more thoughtful side. She has a gift for prose. Hopefully that comes across."

The Boston Globe:

"Palin took home a bundle from communist China after condemning Beijing’s destabilizing military buildup and the 1,000 Chinese missiles aimed at Taiwan. The hockey mom is becoming an operator."

Michael van der Galien [Shockingly positive toward Palin]:

"She could not possibly have hoped for a better start of a presidential campaign. And let’s face it, chances are she’ll run for president. She should. There’s not one Republican out there who is more popular among the grassroots. The only question is whether she’ll attempt to succeed Obama in 2012 or 2016. Like it or not, this woman truly is a phenomenon."

The Reaganite Republican [with our thanks for the h/t]:

"Go get em ‘Cuda- you're one tough lady, and there's a lot of us who have the utmost respect for you and your common-sense conservatism."

Dan Calabrese:

"Palin’s book is a big seller because she is a smart, honest woman who does what she believes is right without regard for what others will say about her – and everyday people love her for that."

Rick Moran:

"My guess is that John McCain and several of his staffers are going to have a lot of explaining to do once this book hits the stands."

Jamie Jeffords:

"As a conservative, Christian, and Jeffersonian, I cannot think of any other potential candidate who excites me the way she does."

Truth And Common Sense:

"She speaks for millions of people when she points out that many of the things the politicians do are just stupid. She also understands the limits of government and the limitlessness of man’s dreams... I also get a huge kick out of watching Palin, without any effort on her part except to draw breath, drive the likes of Maureen Dowd crazy."

Merv Benson:

"She has been closer than most politicians to where the conservative base is. That and her popularity have to be what is really scaring the left right now."

All News Source:

"Much to the chagrin of her critics, Sarah Palin is literally burning up the book charts across the board. It’s 38 days until the book goes public and it’s already #1 on Amazon and #1 on Barnes & Noble."

Morgan Freeberg:

"The wires are burning up with news that Sarah Palin’s co-author is 'extremely conservative'... Does anyone know what kind of meaning to make of that anymore? It means someone doesn’t have a problem if someone else eats meat or legally buys a gun?"

Samuel’s Blog:

"One wonders if this is the start of Sarah Palin preparing herself for a run for president in 2012? I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again…I certainly hope it is."

Hillbuzz:

"If she can send liberals running and throw Dr. Utopia’s administration into total disarray by just posting 1,200 words at a time on Facebook, just imagine what she’ll stir up when her BOOK drops."

JammieWearingFool:

"The left may have a collective aneurysm by the time Going Rogue is released, and that's still not until November 17."

Amused Cynic:

"Hide your Maker’s Mark, this is going to push MoDo right off the edge she’s been teetering on for so long... I look forward to much wailing and gnashing of teeth."

More to come...

- JP

Reaction to 'Going Rogue'

With more great quotes:

Pamela Geller:

"Yes, I want to see this baby fly off the shelves. Ah, a book with a spine."

Chandler Epp:

"The Katie Couric-debating, elk-shooting Caribou Barbie that liberals love to hate has nearly a million followers on Facebook. Who’s the rocket scientist now?"

Melissa Clouthier:

"No one cares what she thinks. Except for the millions of people putting her on the best sellers list weeks in advance."

Weasel Zippers:

"Lefty seethe-O-meter readings are going to be off the charts."

Jimmie Bise:

"Plenty of left-wingers are going to want to comb through it as well, to find ammunition to use in their attacks. That’s good news for her, too. Not only will it put money in her pocket, but it will reaffirm that she is still the person progressives fear the most."

RightWingSparkle:

"I think America understands now how if the left is truly afraid of someone politically, they will go after their children, their husband, and anyone associated with them. They will repeat lie after lie."

Dan Riehl:

"Yeah, the Left will have to spend time and energy rationalizing this away, while also defending child rapist Roman Polanski."

Peter W. Schramm:

"Last night I noticed that CNN was making fun of Sarah Palin and her book... how absurd it was for her publisher to have a first printing of a million and a half copies, and so on... Today I noticed that it is already Number Two on Amazon."

Allahpundit:

"Forty-eight days before the release and she’s already topped Dan Brown’s latest conspiracy-theory casserole at both top retailers. To put that in perspective, note that the book doesn’t even have a cover yet. So much for the Page Six hit piece about demand for her being slack."

Vick Mickunas:

"The book doesn’t even have cover art yet. Wow! The Palin book is kicking some you know what."

Vicki McClure Davidson:

"Dear hate-filled liberals, Please continue to attack Palin and her book. It won’t be released until November 17, but the more negative publicity it gets from you and the fringe media before it’s even read, the better for sales. That’s free word-of-mouth publicity, baby, the very best kind."

Jim Lynch:

"Outselling The Swimmer? That’s got to hurt."

Daley Gator:

"So, if you hear a loud POP, that is just Keith Olbermann’s head exploding, no biggie. It is not like there is much in his head anyway."

Joshuapundit:

"The vile attacks on a plain spoken, decent woman from Alaska and her family by the cretins on the Left is simply a reflection of how deeply they fear her. As I predicted, targeting her and her family and driving her out of office is the worst mistake they ever made."

Gary P. Jackson:

"Brilliant timing, and we expected no less from Sarah Palin!"

- JP

#1 at Amazon, #1 at Barnes & Noble

Sarah Palin's forthcoming book Going Rogue: An American Life has taken over top spot on Amazon.com's Bestsellers in Books list on just the second day it has been available for pre-order.

Amazon sales of the Palin memoir had been trailing those at Barnes & Noble, where it became #1 on that book seller's Top 100 Tuesday, the same day it was made available for pre-order.

Wouldn't it be something if the entire initial printing of 1.5 million copies sells out before the book even has a chance to hit the shelves? Not that the heads of Palin-hating leftists aren't already exploding... 

What we're really looking forward to, aside from the arrival of our copy, of course, is Sarah Palin's book tour, when we can get it signed.

- JP