NY Times staff editor ignored own paper's reporting in posting claim that sales of Living History didn't cover Clinton's advance

New York Times staff editor Tobin Harshaw, in an August 7 post on The Opinionator blog, uncritically quoted conservative blogger Ron Coleman's assertion that Sen. Hillary Clinton has not "come close to earning out the advance paid by" Simon & Schuster for her 2003 autobiography, Living History. But according to the Times' own reporting, sales of the book have covered Clinton's advance.

The Times reported shortly after the book's June 9, 2003, release that sales would quickly cover Clinton's $8.1 million advance. In a July 10, 2003, article, the Times reported that "[a]fter the book sells about 1.3 million copies, Mrs. Clinton's $8 million advance will have been met." In a July 26, 2003, article, the Times reported that Living History "sold 1.2 million copies in six weeks, with sales continuing at a rate of more than 50,000 a week. It is now certain to cover its near-record $8.1 million advance and begin earning additional royalties, her publisher said." In a June 20, 2004, article on the release of former President Bill Clinton's memoirs, the Times wrote, "Last year, Hillary Rodham Clinton's 'Living History' became the best-selling political memoir in United States history (1.7 million copies sold)."

From Coleman's original August 7 blog entry on Likelihood of Success, as posted on The Opinionator:

Most congressional "leaders" are uninspiring and uninspired. The support of their respective caucuses is in fact a counter-indication of originality or boldness, which are just about the only thing anyone reading a book by a politician can hope for. (Unless he's really skinny, I guess.)

The sad part for [House Speaker Nancy] Pelosi [D-CA] is that the practice by which publishers bestow massive donations on their favored politicians via utterly unrecoverable publishing "advances" was barred by the House of Representatives. Therefore she could not get even a fraction of the phenomenal sweetheart advance paid to then Senator-elect Hillary Clinton for her various scribblings - which, while they were bought by many, still did not come close to earning out the advance paid by a publishing industry supposedly beset by economic crisis.

That means Pelosi must have really thought people would want to buy her book.

Chilling. That's what enough time in Congress does to people.

—A.J.W.