‘Fond Portrait’ Flop: AP Duo’s Jill Biden Biography Sold Only 250 Copies in First Week

The depths of a PoliticoAn account of how the boring Biden administration has served as a “journalistic sedate” after Trump’s rollicking years. Max Tani’s Friday story has a few paragraphs left before he gives us a remarkable revelation. This could make for an interesting story. The book “Jill: A Biography of the First Lady,” by AP Executive Editor Julie Pace and White House reporter Darlene Superville, sold only 250 copies in its first week.

The tweets that sent newsrooms scrambling are gone. Long gone are five Friday alarm news dumps which had editors scrambling for weekend plans and frantically changing them. Goodbye to huge TV budgets that were used for White House Specials, and the torrent of publishing deals on books related to the Administration.

NPD BookScan, which tracks book sales in the U.S., said that prominent books about Trump released in his first two years of office outsold Biden books during his first year and a half by, what an official there said was, “essentially 10:1.” A newly released biography about Jill Biden, by two well-respected Associated Press journalists, sold just 250 units in its first week, according to the company.

This could be interpreted as a sign that the Bidens have fallen out of favor. There are also TV appearances. On April 19, Pace was interviewed by CNN. It also sounded like Pace was taking a “journalistic tranquilizer”. Pace didn’t have anything to add. After Beau, Joe’s child, died, Jill rallied his family. Jill was a key political advisor who believed Joe should run as president. Yawwwwn.

You could also suggest that Democrat book buyers aren’t quite as fascinated with the Bidens than they were about the Obamas. In reality, Democrat book sellers are still attracted to Trump. CNN, MSNBC and all the rest can’t stop talking about Trump book by two New York TimesReporters (the one in which Jill did not want Kamala Harris to be on Joe’s ballot). In Trump’s first and second years, there were many anti-Trump “tell alls”, and this is still the best selling.

Amazon’s review of the biography by only one reader is another sign that this book is being ignored. The book didn’t get glowing reviews, as shown in this AP puffpiece.

The deeply-reported biography of Jill Biden features Julie Pace, Darlene Superville and Evelyn M. Duffy. It is revealed that her personality has been a key to the Biden family’s survival through hardship and great fortune.

A typical review of fawning:

“This is a fond portrait of the woman you would love to be your friend..”―Kirkus Reviews

Yet despite the saccharine reviews and media hype we are left with the laughable (and amazing) fact that only 250 copies of the book sold in the first week after publication. One piece of good news is that in these inflationary times we will probably soon see a big price drop for the book from the current hardcover cost of $26.10 discounted down to the bargain bin sale at your local Dollar Store.