In February, Hillary Rodham Clinton became the first-ever First Lady to release an audiobook—but the project almost didn't happen. Due to Mrs. Clinton's busy schedule, she was available to record on only one day: January 8. Unfortunately, that turned out to be the day of the record-breaking Blizzard of '96. "Luckily, our producer, Susan Perrin Totland, and our engineer, Paul Fowlie, made it down to D.C. by train on Sunday before everything shut down," recalled Sandy Moore, v-p of program production for Simon & Schuster Audio. "If the hotel hadn't been within walking distance of the studio, they still would not have made it. You can imagine our relief when Hillary Rodham Clinton, Secret Service men and all, pulled up to the studio ready to roll. That's a big advantage to working with the First Lady—if anyone can make it, she can!"
But getting to the studio was only the first hurdle. "It Takes a Village redefined the meaning of a hands-on production," said senior v-p/publisher Seth Gershel. "Because of the blizzard, we had to revert to the old days—no Fed Ex! Our producers literally acted as their own couriers, bringing the recording back from D.C. to New York by hand. Despite the weather, we managed to have the audio finished within a week." Working overtime, Simon & Schuster got the audio into stores within three weeks after recording it.
