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Crowd shows up midnight book Original Source Link: (May no longer be active)
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New York
Crowd shows up at midnight to get a first peek at Hillary Clinton book
By DEVLIN BARRETT
The Associated Press
6/9/03 12:48 AM
NEW YORK (AP) -- Lines like this are usually seen around trendy nightclubs. But in this case the people don't want music, they want Hillary.
As many as 80 people stood in line outside an upper west side Barnes and Noble bookstore at midnight Monday to get a copy of Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton's new book entitled, "Living History."
In the book, she revisits the public and private wreckage from Bill Clinton's affair with White House intern Monica Lewinsky. She concludes that what her husband did was morally wrong but not a betrayal of the public.
The crowd waiting in line couldn't wait to know what Sen. Clinton had to say.
"Its the hot book of the summer and I wanted to get it first," said Mike Keo, 40, Manhattan lawyer who stood in line waiting to purchase his copy. "I just think it would be nice to hear about her life from her."
Some even came the moment they knew the book was on sale.
"I was in my pajamas and I saw it on TV and I jumped up and my husband said where are you going," said Lyn Scarpati, 56, a real estate broker.
Asked about excerpts from the book that had been previously released, she said: "She always has the right answer and it just seems she thinks of everything and knows just what to say. It's very impressive to me."
The senator began her 2003 book tour on Sunday night with a prime-time television interview on ABC.
On Monday, the host of the tour's inaugural signing event for Clinton's "Living History," a Barnes & Noble in midtown Manhattan, is counting on heavy crowds.
Store managers will distribute wristbands to the first 250 people seeking autographed copies of the Democratic senator's book, to make sure at least that many people get a copy.
Even before the sale of a single book, the company's vice president of marketing, Bob Wietrack, predicted the memoir of Clinton's time in the White House will be the chain's No. 1 nonfiction book of the year.
Simon & Schuster, which agreed to pay Clinton $8 million, has printed an astounding 1 million copies, betting on major interest in her account of her husband's two presidential terms.
Wietrack said he believes there will be "a giant two- or three-week pop" of sales as Clinton shows up all over broadcast and in print promoting the book.
Barbara Walters interviewed the senator for a Sunday segment on ABC, in which Clinton said her marriage has "been tried and tested and we are at the point now that we're looking forward ... I hope that we'll grow old together."
Other TV appearances will follow later in the week on NBC and CNN.
Time magazine is running excerpts from the book and an interview with Clinton. Asked if she will run for president in 2008, she tells the magazine: "I have no intention of running for president."
A new ABC poll found that 53 percent of Americans don't want the former first lady to ever run for president. The same poll found Americans are still highly divided about her, with 44 percent expressing a favorable opinion and 48 percent viewing her unfavorably.
Even with the orchestrated marketing effort, Clinton's sales may get an extra boost from an unexpected source -- the latest "Harry Potter" book, due out June 20.
Many in the industry believe the Harry hysteria will generate additional sales for Clinton by drawing more parents into stores. Scholastic Inc., the American publisher of "Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix," has planned a $3 million to $4 million marketing campaign and commissioned a record 8.5 million copies.
"Customers are going to come in buying Harry Potter, and what we've seen in the past is that those crowds also buy books for themselves," said Wietrack.
After Monday's New York event, Clinton will have two other signings during the week in Washington, before she heads to her New York home of suburban Chappaqua for a weekend appearance.
During the summer, she will squeeze more book-signing visits into her Senate work schedule, but Simon & Schuster spokeswoman Victoria Meyer said the company is not releasing the tour itinerary for logistical and security reasons.
"It's fair to say," Meyer said, "it will be all parts of the country."
Copyright 2003 Associated Press. All rights reserved.
This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
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