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Turns out, readers consider Arnold Schwarzenegger’s memoir Total Recall expendable. Despite an aggressive publicity tour, the book has sold only 27,000 copies since its Oct. 1 release, 21,000 of them in the first week. It’s not terrible—Alec Baldwin’s A Promise to Ourselves has sold only 13,000 hardcover copies since its September 2008 release, proving that even a hit TV show doesn’t guarantee literary success—but it’s far below the benchmark set by recent blockbusters like a Navy SEAL’s account of the Bin Laden mission in No Easy Day, which sold 253,000 copies in its first week, and J.K. Rowling’s A Casual Vacancy, which moved 375,000 in its first six days. And it’s probably not worth the advance which the former governator got, reported to be in the millions.
As they do almost every year, publishers have released a slew of celebrity memoirs of late, but sales have been underwhelming (with the exception of the likes of Tina Fey and Keith Richards). Of course, some of these books may catch on in paperback or find a second life, but the general rule in publishing is that if you haven’t sold big in your first few weeks, you’re doomed. (Only 1,000 paperbacks of Baldwin’s book have been sold since October 2009.) From Snooki to Rielle Hunter, here are the biggest recent flops, with book sales data provided by Nielsen BookScan (Note: BookScan covers approximately 75 percent of the print book market and continues to grow. BookScan does not track sales from Wal-Mart.)
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He’s not back, baby—Total Recall sold just 21,000 copies in its first week of release, and 27,000 to date.
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The publisher hoping for another Keith Richards sensation may be disappointed with Who I Am, the memoir of the guitarist of the legendary band The Who, has sold 18,000 copies since Oct. 8.
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Waging Heavy Peace has sold 36,000 copies since its Sept. 25 release, similar to the pace of Schwarzenegger’s memoir.
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Seriously…I’m Kidding has sold only 12,000 copies in paperback since Sept. 25 though her hardcover sales were stronger.
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My Mother Was Nuts by the director (Big, Awakenings, A League of Their Own), producer, and former star of Laverne and Shirley, has sold just 7,000 copies since its Sept. 18 release.
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The Longest Way Home, the new book by the actor (Pretty in Pink, St. Elmos’ Fire and other Brat Pack films) and travel writer, did even worse than Penny Marshall’s book, selling only 5,000 copies since it was published on Sept. 18.
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What Really Happened, the tell-all by the mistress of former presidential candidate John Edwards, has sold only 12,000 copies since June 22.
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Gorilla Beach by the reality TV star has sold only 3,000 copies since its May release.
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Ali in Wonderland by the comedian and actress has sold 19,000 copies since Feb. 7.
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Shockaholic by the Star Wars actress has sold 13,000 copies since its release last November, despite the smashing success of her previous memoir, Wishful Drinking.
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OK, only by the standards of her previous book is Prime Time a bust at 51,000 copies in its hardcover run from August 2011 and 7,000 in its paperback run since this May.