Topline
Print sales of Republican vice presidential candidate JD Vance’s 2016 book “Hillbilly Elegy” soared 13,000% in the week he was announced as Donald Trump’s running mate, according to data from Circana, an increase that drove Publisher Harper Collins to order a new print run for the memoir to meet demand.
JD Vance, the venture capitalist and author of “Hillbilly Elegy,” autographs a book after a rally … [+]
Key Facts
For the week ending July 20 (Vance’s candidacy was announced July 15), “Hillbilly Elegy” was the No. 1 bestselling print book across all genres.
It sold 197,000 print books that week, according to Circana, an increase of 13,000% compared to the prior week, when this title sold 1,500 print copies.
When factoring in e-book and audio book sales, “Hillbilly Elegy” sold 600,000 copies between July 15 and July 25, HarperCollins told the Associated Press.
The publisher has in turn ordered a new print run of “hundreds of thousands of copies” to fill demand at retail stores.
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“Hillbilly Elegy: A Memoir of a Family and Culture in Crisis,” by J.D. Vance.
Key Background
The 2016 release of “Hillbilly Elegy” is what thrust JD Vance into the spotlight before he entered the political sphere. The book was almost universally praised and reignited conversation around the rural poor and their support of the Republican party, even if it didn’t reveal much about Vance’s own aspirations. In 2020, the book was turned into a Netflix movie that was generally slammed by critics but earned actress Glenn Close an Oscar nomination for best supporting actress. Vance ran for Senate eight years after the book was released, won and was sworn in as the junior senator from Ohio last year.
Tangent
Kamala Harris’ 2020 book, “The Truths We Hold: An American Journey,” has also enjoyed a surge in popularity since she announced she would run for president in place of Joe Biden, though it hasn’t soared to the same heights as “Hillbilly Elegy.” “The Truths We Hold” was ranked at No. 97 on Amazon’s bestselling books list Thursday morning, up from No. 153 on Monday and No. 33,154 on Sunday before her candidacy was announced.
Further Reading
Mary Roeloffs is a Forbes reporter who covers breaking news with a frequent focus on the entertainment industry, streaming, sports news, publishing, pop culture and climate change. She joined Forbes in 2023 and lives in Dallas. She’s covered Netflix’s hottest documentaries, a surge of assaults reported on social media, the most popular books of the year and how climate change stands to impact the way we eat. Roeloffs was included on Editor & Publisher Magazine’s “ 25 Under 30” list in 2023 and worked covering local news in the greater Boston area from 2017 to 2023. She graduated with a double major in political science and journalism from Northeastern University. Follow Roeloffs for continued coverage of streaming wars, pop culture news and trending topics.
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