Publishing to be president

Joan Lowy writes in Capitol Hill Blue:

A torrent of words from presidential candidates is to be expected, but the latest crowd of White House wannabes has taken the old academic stricture "publish or perish" to heart.

At least eight of the prospective 2008 candidates have books scheduled for publication or that have recently been published.

Some of the books are even selling well.

"When I took this job 10 years ago, every publisher said to me, 'Political books don't sell.' Boy, has the world changed. Now political books are hot," said Patricia Schroeder, president of the Association of American Publishers, a trade group for the book publishing industry.

The books that rack up the sales tend to be the ones whose authors are already political celebrities, such as New York Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton and Arizona Sen. John McCain.

For most candidates, however, it's the practical political benefits rather than a desire to indulge their inner muse that drives them to pick up their pens — or keyboards, as the case may be.

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