President Barack Obama’s new memoir, “A Promised Land,” sold nearly 880,000 copies on its first day of distribution Wednesday, skyrocketing it to the top of the Best Seller lists, CNN reports.
The 700-page book, which covers Obama’s life through the elimination of Osama bin Laden, also assesses some of the problems facing a highly divided nation.
While the first-day sales were a record for its publisher, Crown, an imprint of Penguin Random House, it’s not a single-day sales record for a book, even in his home. That honor belongs to another member of the Obama household: Michelle Obama’s 2018 book “Becoming” sold 1.1 million copies on its first day.
The publisher has printed more than three million copies for sales, expecting a large holiday sales cycle.
By comparison, Donald Trump’s ghostwritten book “The Art of the Deal” has sold an estimated 1.1 million copies since its 1987 publication.