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Clinton's 'Life' Breaks Records

Associated Press
Published | Updated

NEW YORK – He's no Harry Potter but Bill Clinton (search) is still a record breaker. Clinton's "My Life" sold more than 400,000 copies in the United States on in its first day of release, the most ever for a nonfiction book and double the believed previous record holder, Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton's "Living History."

Bill Clinton's publisher, Alfred A. Knopf (search), announced an additional printing of 725,000 copies, bringing the total to 2.25 million. More printings are likely.

"We are seeing exceedingly strong sales for 'My Life' (search) not only across the country but around the world," Knopf president Sonny Mehta said in a statement Wednesday.

Clinton's book has topped the Amazon.com best seller list in the United States, England, France and Japan. The audio book, an abridged version read by Clinton, sold 35,000 copies in the United States, also a first-day record.

Still, the unchallenged king of book premieres remains "Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix," (search) which sold an estimated 5 million copies on its opening day last year.

The 957-page "My Life" was published Tuesday, with thousands lining up in New York alone to receive an autographed copy from the former president, who appeared at bookstores in Harlem and Rockefeller Center. Some fans camped out on the concrete the night before and later endured driving rain as they waited to meet Clinton.

Most reviewers think his book is a bore, but Clinton will almost certainly earn back his reported $10 million advance, and the print run for "My Life" already approaches that of "Living History," which came out last year. Sen. Clinton's book has 2.3 million copies in print, according to her publisher, Simon & Schuster.

"My Life" is actually helping sales of "Living History," which on Tuesday reached the top 10 on Amazon.com. Demand is also high for the audio book and large print edition of "My Life," both of which have spent several days on the Amazon.com top 10.

The large print edition of "My Life" has a first printing of 100,000, more than the regular print run for most books.