Simon & Schuster ditches 'comprehensive book on Biden’s presidency' amid low demand for Biden-related material

Publishing giant Simon & Schuster has backed out of a deal with an established journalist for a "comprehensive" look at the Biden administration as sales for Biden-related books remain in the tank.

In February 2021, Politico announced that Alex Thompson — then a reporter with Politico who has since joined Axios as "a National Political Correspondent" — had signed a contract with Simon & Schuster to pen "a comprehensive book on Biden’s presidency." The book was expected to provide "fresh reporting" from a journalist with a firsthand look at "the White House transition."

In that announcement, Politico claimed that the book would likely be released "in early 2024" — just in time for campaign season.

Now that "early 2024" has come and nearly gone, Politico has announced that the deal is off. According to the outlet, Simon & Schuster has "withdrawn" the contract with Thompson, further signaling a "soft market for books about President Joe Biden." A spokesperson for the publisher declined Politico's request for comment.

Thompson confirmed on X that the deal with Simon & Schuster is now defunct but noted that he is "still writing" the promised book. "If you’re a publisher and interested, email/number in bio," he added.

For some time now, Politico has sounded the alarm about just how poorly Biden-related books have sold. Just over six months ago, it published an article entitled "Biden books are still bombing." It also recently listed three supposedly major books about the Biden presidency, only one of which sold more than 10,000 copies. The other two sold just 6,500 combined.

Those numbers are abysmal, especially in comparison to books related to former President Donald Trump. Those books, particularly those taking aim at the former president, easily sold hundreds of thousands of copies, Politico reported. Even a tell-all book about Hillary Clinton's failed 2016 presidential campaign, "Shattered," sold 125,000 copies and became a New York Times bestseller.

But Biden books apparently just don't draw interest. NBC News’ Jonathan Allen, who coauthored "Shattered," tried to put a positive spin on an otherwise worrisome bellwether as Biden vies for a second term. "[Biden] has tried to be kind of a drama-free president, certainly in comparison to his predecessor," Allen claimed, "and that makes it harder to write a book, both in terms of getting information and turning his story into one that is compelling for readers."

Eric Nelson of Broadside Books, a conservative subdivision of HarperCollins, was much more blunt: "Biden never does anything interesting."

Nelson also noted that Biden has placed himself in a bit of a political jam. "If your nickname is Sleepy Joe, you kind of have to simultaneously say this person is ruining everything and is supremely evil, but also he’s inept," he said.

"And that’s sort of a challenging combination."

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