The timing of Bill O’Reilly’s latest best-selling book could hardly be more awkward.
The book, Old School , is billed as a defence of traditional values and includes advice on how men should treat women respectfully, not as sex objects. The book went on sale the same week The New York Times reported that Mr. O’Reilly, the Fox News host, had settled suits with five women who had accused him of sexual harassment or verbal abuse.
While Mr. O’Reilly’s critics have pounced on the appearance of hypocrisy — “Loved the part about how to treat women! This guy’s the worst!” one Amazon reviewer wrote — many of his die-hard fans might not care.
Old School , which came out March 28 and was written with Bruce Feirstein, sold 67,500 copies in its first week, according to NPD BookScan, which tracks 85% of the print market. It will debut at No. 1 on the New York Times ’s hardcover non-fiction best-seller list on April 16.
On Friday, it was among the top 15 books in sales on Amazon and was No. 1 on Barnes & Noble’s non-fiction best-seller list. But it was still unclear how the disclosure of the sexual harassment settlements might affect sales for the book or his career as a prolific author. The strong start for Old School includes preorders and largely reflects the first week of sales, before The Times published its article about the settlements.
Making a killing
Although best known as a combative Fox News personality, Mr. O’Reilly has carved out an incredibly lucrative side pursuit as an author. His ongoing Killing series, which he started in 2011 and writes with Martin Dugard, has more than 17 million copies in print, according to his publisher, Henry Holt. His book Killing the Rising Sun , about the final years of World War II, holds the No. 3 spot on the New York Times ’ hardcover list, while his 2013 book, Killing Jesus , is No. 4 on the paperback list.
Killing the Rising Sun topped all adult non-fiction books last year, selling 1,104,389 copies, according to Publishers Weekly.
Patricia Eisemann, the director of publicity for Henry Holt, and Stephen Rubin, the company’s president and publisher, declined to comment when asked if the company would continue to publish Mr. O’Reilly’s books in the aftermath of the new revelations.
Commercial publishing houses depend heavily on core authors, and some industry analysts said it was unlikely that Holt would sever ties with O’Reilly, whose Fox show provides a built-in marketing machine for his books.
“I doubt very much that they would take a drastic action like cutting him loose,” said Mike Shatzkin, chief executive of Idea Logical Co., a consulting firm. “They’re not going to die if he’s not there, but they certainly would be scrambling to make up the revenue.” NYT
