Hillary sells 200,000 books her first day

Stephen King or Tom Clancy might sell 200,000 copies of a new book in one day. Not a controversial former first lady writing a 600-page nonfiction tome whose juiciest details have already been reported in newspapers and websites, as well as on TV by the author herself. Nonetheless, that’s the first-day figure reported by Simon & Schuster for Monday’s sales of Hillary Rodham Clinton’s memoir ”Living History.” The publisher, which bought the New York senator’s manuscript for $8 million, said Monday that it planned to print an additional 300,000 copies, on top of the 1 million already shipped to stores.

Just one retailer, Barnes & Noble, said the book had set a company record for nonfiction sales, having moved 40,000 copies in 24 hours in stores and online. More than 1,000 of those were sold at the branch in Manhattan’s Rockefeller Center, where the author launched her book tour on Monday and spent 2 1/2 hours signing copies, the Associated Press reports.

Clinton plugged the book Sunday night in an ABC interview conducted by Barbara Walters, in which the former first lady discussed how she kept her marriage to Bill Clinton together despite the stinging betrayal she felt during the Monica Lewinsky scandal. According to Nielsen, that hour was the fourth most-watched show of the week, drawing 13.5 million viewers.