As soon as the House committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol released its exhaustive report Thursday night, at least half a dozen publishers sprang into action, each vying to edit and release the final edition of the document. fast.
The publishers signed on to these projects without knowing how big the job would be: they didn’t know how many pages the final report would have, whether it would contain pictures and maps, or whether it would contain many redactions, which can be complicated to put into print .
Now that the document has arrived, they rush to capitalize on the public interest and beat their competitors, knowing that several other companies are producing books that are nearly identical. And they’re doing this while facing the massive press and warehouse bottleneck created by the demand for books during the holiday season.
“Everyone, not just us, is trying to do our very best to be first to market, but also every publisher has their own angle and twist to it,” says Doug Jones, publisher at Harper Perennial, which puts together an edition with a introduction by MSNBC’s chief legal correspondent, Ari Melber. “Everyone has their own audience.”
Publishers did what they could beforehand, including having prominent journalists and politicians make introductions that differentiated their different versions. The edition of Random House has a foreword by Representative Adam Schiff, a California Democrat and the chairman of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence. Macmillan’s includes an introduction by David Remnick, editor of The New Yorker magazine, and an afterword by Representative Jamie Raskin, a Democrat from Maryland and member of the House Jan. 6. Select committee. Hachette’s edition features reporting and analysis from The New York Times staff.
Extrapolation from the dramatic presentation of the House Committee during its televised hearings, which were viewed by tens of millions of viewers, publishers are hopeful that the Jan. 6 report will present a compelling story — more of a page-turner than a legalist document — and appeal to a wide audience. After an 18-month investigation, the commission on December 19 accused former President Donald J. Trump from incitement to insurrection, conspiracy to defraud the United States, obstruction of an act of Congress and another federal crime, refer him to the Justice Department for possible prosecution.
“The committee did a fantastic job during the public hearings; they were really compelling, they had a narrative sense of how to put together a bigger story,” said Dennis Johnson, co-founder of independent publisher Melville House. “That speaks well to their ability to piece together the bigger story in the text.”
Understand the events on January 6
Several publishers aim to have the e-book ready in a few days and the first printed editions in about a week; others plan to release in early January, hoping to time publication on the anniversary of the attack on the Capitol.
For publishers, who typically plan their books years in advance, these quick-to-market titles can be a logistical challenge. Most of them have already made their covers, bought paper and edited the introductions while they wait for the full report. Next comes a mundane task: repeatedly refreshing the committee’s website to get your hands on the report.
Once the text is available, publishers send it to their compositor. The typesetter quickly creates an e-book file, as well as versions for Amazon and Ingram, which can print books on demand. Another version goes to a book printer who processes a larger number of copies.
“It’s like turning on multiple production taps at once,” says Sean Desmond, publisher of Twelve, an imprint at Hachette. “It’s getting tight.”
However, the rewards can be significant. While a quick turnaround comes with additional costs, such as printing on demand, government reports are public, so publishers don’t have to pay to use the materials.
And they can sell quite well. Several editions of the Mueller report — including one from Simon & Schuster in association with The Washington Post and another from Skyhorse, an independent publisher — have sold about 475,000 print copies, according to NPD BookScan, outpacing sales of most of the print books in the world. United States. The 9/11 Commission Report, also published by several houses, has sold 1.1 million copies. In both cases, nearly all of those sales came within the first year of publication.
Some bookstores are ordering multiple editions of the January 6 report, unsure which version will be the most popular. Barnes & Noble has ordered all major editions, but is taking more copies of Hachette’s edition, which will have the foreword by The Times. Politics and Prose, an independent store in Washington, D.C., also orders several editions.
In addition to competing against each other, publishers also have to contend with the annoying fact that a free version of the report will be available online for anyone who wants to read it. Still, executives bet that many readers and institutions such as schools and libraries want a print and bound version for posterity.
“Even before the public hearings, we decided that given the facts that precipitated this investigation, it was probably the most important congressional investigation in history,” said Mark Warren, executive editor and vice president of Random House. “It was important for the record and for history to publish his findings.”
Here are details on some of the most anticipated releases.
For the edition published by Celadon, a Macmillan imprint, Remnick wrote the introduction and Raskin, the epilogue. “The commission’s job here is to establish the historical record,” Remnick said in a statement. “The job of The New Yorker and Celadon is to remind people that we can’t afford to look away.”
Skyhorse, an independent press, publishes two versions, with analysis from very different points on the political spectrum. One has a foreword by Darren Beattie, who was a speechwriter for former President Donald J. Trump and who disputed his defeat in the 2020 election. The other has an introduction by Elizabeth Holtzman, a former member of Congress who served on the Judiciary Committee during President Richard Nixon’s impeachment inquiry. Tony Lyons, Skyhorse’s president, said that “while Holtzman argues for the DOJ’s obligation to indict Trump, Beattie provides a blueprint for the incoming Congress to investigate the report’s bias.”
Published by Twelve, an imprint of Hachette, this version will feature more than 80 pages of reporting, eyewitness accounts, and analysis from The New York Times staff, including a timeline of events and maps showing the paths of those who left the Capitol. have broken through.
In late September, after Melber, an MSNBC host, announced on his show that he was collaborating with HarperCollins on a Jan. 6 edition of the report, the book sailed to No. 1 on Amazon. Preorders are so large that HarperCollins is planning an initial print run of 250,000 copies and is aiming to release it in early January. On his show, Melber plugged in his version, but also urged viewers to read the report in their preferred format, “including downloading it online.”
The Random House edition of the report will include an introduction from Schiff, who had a front row seat in the House investigation. “Congressman Schiff’s perspective on the state of American democracy is unique given the events of the Trump presidency and Schiff’s role in defending our institutions and our Constitution,” said Mark Warren, who edited the foreword.
Melville House, a small press, has a long track record of publishing public documents, including the Senate Intelligence Committee report on torture and Mueller’s report. The January 6 edition of the report presents the unvarnished report, with no introduction. “Any introduction gives it a certain bias,” says Melville House publisher Johnson. “People should have access to the primary document.”