Jared Kushner Memoir Debuts at Top of NYT Best Seller List With 46,000 Copies Sold
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Jared Kushner’s White House memoir debuted on the New York Times best seller list this week, selling 46,400 copies in its first week, according to figures obtained by Mediaite.
Breaking History: A White House Memoir, Kushner’s book chronicling his time as senior adviser to President Donald Trump, landed first on the Hardcover Nonfiction list. The book placed second on the Combined Print and E-Book Nonfiction list, behind I’m Glad My Mom Died, the memoir of iCarly star Jennette McCurdy.
I’m Glad My Mom Died, which placed second to Breaking History on the hardcover chart, sold 22,800 hardcover copies last week, according to BookScan figures obtained by Mediaite.
Kushner’s 46,400 copies made Breaking History the best-selling memoir from a former Trump administration official since the end of his presidency. Former Attorney General Bill Barr’s book One Damn Thing After Another sold 23,010 copies in its first week while Kellyanne Conway’s memoir Here’s The Deal sold 25,020 copies.
The book was released on Aug. 23, and Kushner promoted it everywhere from Newsmax TV to Fox News to Megyn Kelly’s daily podcast.
The book also received a boost from Trump, who mobilized his political action committee in support of the memoir in a series of fundraising emails to supporters.
Ivanka Trump also used one of only three posts she’s authored on Truth Social since her account was opened to pitch the book to her followers.
The support from Trump’s campaign was apparently enough to earn Breaking History a dagger symbol (†), which the paper uses to note a book was buoyed by large orders.
It is unclear how the Times determines what earns a book a dagger, and whether it penalizes books as a result.
New York Times
When Donald Trump Jr. debuted at number one on the list in 2019, his book Triggered was also accompanied by the dagger. The Republican National Committee has been known to purchase large orders of such books to fundraise.
