Maddow beneficiary of scramble for attention
It’s high season for books that pick apart Donald Trump’s presidency, and Rachel Maddow is a big beneficiary.
NEW YORK » It’s high season for books that pick apart Donald Trump’s presidency, and Rachel Maddow is a big beneficiary.
MSNBC’s prime-time personality reached the second-biggest audience of her career when 5 million viewers tuned in for her Tuesday interview with Michael Cohen about his new book, “Disloyal: A Memoir: The True Story of the Former Personal Attorney to President Donald J. Trump.”
Only the 5.23 million who saw Maddow’s July interview with presidential niece Mary Trump about her family tell-all exceeded that audience, the Nielsen company said. It was also the mostwatched program in MSNBC’s 24-year history.
With less than two months before the election, authors are elbowing each other for space on the best-seller lists. One key to success is having some revelations that grab headlines and attention for a news cycle or two.
Veteran Bob Woodward knows that drill. His status, and the presence of audiotape interviews he conducted with Trump for the book “Rage,” were key to him landing a slot on CBS’ “60 Minutes” Sunday, two days before publication date. He’ll be on NBC’s “Today” show this morning.
Those shows reach a more mainstream audience than Maddow’s and, in the case of “60 Minutes,” a larger one.
Conservative authors have also sought attention for new books during the political season. Autographed copies of Fox News Channel’s Sean Hannity’s new book, “Live Free or Die,” have been distributed to Trump campaign donors. Former White
House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders hit a promotional hot spot with a visit to “The View” this week.
But for people like Mary Trump, Cohen and Michael Schmidt, reporter for The New York Times and author of the justreleased “Donald Trump vs. the United States,” Maddow offers a concentrated audience of potential buyers.
“There isn’t any show on television that sells more books than Maddow,” said Keith Urbahn of the Javelin literacy agency, where clients include former FBI Director James Comey and former Hillary Clinton aide Jennifer Palmieri. “She has the most engaged, book buying audience bar none. Every time one of our authors has been on, she has shot the book to No. 1.”
Sales of CNN media correspondent Brian Stelter’s book on the relationship between Fox News and Trump soared after a Friday night appearance on Maddow last month.