Obama Books Proliferate

Ever since Barack Obama’s rise to national prominence, the Democratic presidential nominee has spawned a publishing cottage industry. The search words “Barack Obama” in Amazon deliver 1,259 hits, and while many of them are books, there are a variety of other items, ranging from calendars (2009 Barack Obama wall calendar), spoken-word audiobooks (The Essential Barack Obama), magazine articles, speeches, playing cards and original e-books. Obama titles have come from the major houses as well as self-publishers. But while a number of Obama-related titles have hit the bestseller lists—including two written by the senator—not every title bearing the candidate’s name has turned to gold. Here’s a sampling of some of the Obama titles and how they’ve performed.