Malcolm Turnbull’s tome a political bestseller

Malcolm Turnbull’s controversial memoir, A Bigger Picture, is set to become a prime ministerial bestseller.

Publishing insiders expect bookshops, including online retailers Amazon and Booktopia, to have sold more than 5000 copies of Mr Turnbull’s book in the first week. Picture: AFP

Malcolm Turnbull’s controversial memoir, A Bigger Picture, is set to become a prime ministerial bestseller, eclipsing Kevin Rudd’s effort and rivalling books authored by Julia Gillard and John Howard.

Mr Turnbull’s publisher, Hardie Grant, printed 45,000 copies and this week ordered a second print run of 15,000 books, and it is eyeing a third. The publisher has sold 50,000 copies to bookstores across Australia, with many ­reordering stock to keep up with demand.

Publishing insiders expect bookshops, including online retailers Amazon and Booktopia, to have sold more than 5000 copies of Mr Turnbull’s book in the first week. Some Dymocks stores ran out of stock by mid-week. Sales have been helped by heavy discounting from Target, Big W and Kmart, who slashed the retail price from $55 to $29.

According to lifetime sales figures provided exclusively to The Weekend Australian by Nielsen BookScan, Mr Rudd’s The PM Years (2018) sold 5700 copies and his Not for the Faint-Hearted (2017) sold 8200 copies. Mr Rudd’s co-authored children’s book, Jasper + Abby (2010) sold 6000 copies.

Ms Gillard’s My Story (2014) has so far sold 75,300 copies across all formats. Mr Howard’s memoir, Lazarus Rising (2010), remains the modern standard for prime ministerial memoirs, selling 105,000 copies in various editions. Malcolm Fraser’s co-authored memoirs, published in 2010, sold 8400 copies.

The best-selling prime ministerial book of all time is Gough Whitlam’s account of his November 1975 dismissal, The Truth of the Matter (1979), which sold more than 150,000 copies in its first and second editions, as well as a third hardback edition published in 2005 that sold 4900 copies. Whitlam’s densely ­detailed account of his prime ministership, The Whitlam Government, was published in 1985.

Bob Hawke’s The Hawke Memoirs, also hugely controversial when published in 1994, sold about 80,000 copies in hardback and paperback editions. Of the political tomes written by opposition leaders, Mark Latham’s The Latham Diaries (2005) remains the standout with 51,500 sold. Tony Abbott’s Battlelines (2009) has had 14,000 sales. Bill Shorten’s For the Common Good, published just prior to the 2016 election, sold just 900 copies.

John Gorton did not write a memoir but did author a series of autobiographical articles for The Sunday Australian in 1971. Billy McMahon laboured on an autobiography for years but never completed it. Robert Menzies wrote two books of essays in retirement, Afternoon Light (1967) and The Measure of the Years (1970), which reflected on his life in and out of politics.

Hardie Grant managing director Roxy Ryan said Mr Turnbull’s book was an “immediate bestseller” and the publisher was thrilled with sales. “We could not be happier.”