Lazarus rises to become bestselling political memoir
* Stephen Romei, Literary Editor * From: The Australian * May 12, 2011 12:00AM
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JOHN Howard has added another milestone to his remarkable career, with sales of his autobiography, Lazarus Rising, passing the 75,000 mark to become the country's biggest selling political memoir.
The previous bestseller was Bob Hawke's 1994 book The Hawke Memoirs, which sold 75,000 copies. Mr Howard lost the 1987 election to Mr Hawke, but went on to win The Lodge in 1996 and then overtake the Labor legend as the second-longest-serving prime minister.
"I am delighted. I would have been happy to sell 30,000 to 40,000 copies," Mr Howard told The Australian yesterday.
Asked for the secret of his success, Mr Howard, who wrote the book himself, said: "The most frequent comment I have had is that it is easy to read. I hope that's good. Maybe people normally find political books hard to read."
Lazarus Rising, which was published last October, sold its 75,198th copy last Saturday, according to AC Nielsen Bookscan. Mr Howard has outsold memoirs by Peter Costello, Mark Latham, David Hicks, Peter Cosgrove, George W. Bush, Tony Blair and even Nelson Mandela.
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"If he was a rock star, he would have gone platinum: 75,000 copies is an extraordinary number in the Australian market," said HarperCollins publishing director Shona Martyn.
Mr Howard, 71, who promoted Lazarus Rising with all the energy of a political campaign, is updating the book for its paperback release in late August. He said the new material would cover recent political developments, including the NSW and Victorian elections and Tuesday's federal budget, as well the climate change debate.
Ms Martyn said Mr Howard's sales "scotched the old publishing mantra that books from the political Right don't sell as well as books of the Left". The success of Lazarus Rising means Mr Howard has well and truly earned back his reported $400,000 advance and is collecting royalties.
The $35 paperback edition, timed for Father's Day, will push overall sales of Lazarus Rising towards the magical 100,000 mark, which would put the former member for Bennelong in the same league as Bryce Courtenay.
