Clinton's West Coast Swing Draws Record-Breaking Numbers to Independents

From sea to shining sea and back again defines former President Bill Clinton's trajectory for one of the best-attended and best-publicized book tours in history. Neither the excitement nor the crowds have diminished since Clinton started the book signing tour for his memoir, My Life (Knopf), on June 22 in New York City.

According to Paul Bogaards, senior vice president and executive director of media relations for Knopf, as of June 29, My Life, had officially sold one million copies. He told BTW that with three printings and 2.6 million copies in print, "We are in great shape, and there is plenty of inventory." That is bound to reassure the many booksellers who are watching customers snap up copies of the book in a kind of feeding frenzy. The former president is drawing huge crowds at all the stops on his tour, but none are more appreciative than those at the many independent and African-American specialty bookstores on his route.

Small stores, such as Eso Won Books in Los Angeles, dedicated to African-American literature, experienced unprecedented crowds, sales, and outpourings of devotion for the new book and its author. Eso Won co-owner James Fugate spoke to the Los Angeles Times about the thousands of people, including representatives of the national media and city notables, who called to inquire about the upcoming signing. All 1,500 copies for the signing were sold before Clinton's arrival and hundreds more flocked to the area around the store to catch a glimpse of the popular former President. "If Bill Clinton stayed here for two weeks, 10,000 people would show up every day," Mr. Fugate is quoted as saying in a recent L.A. Times article.

Clinton's magic touch is very evident in African-American communities. Among the observers quoted in the L.A. Times story was Councilman Bernard C. Parks, representative for that district, who said, "I think it means a great deal for the community for him to come here. For so long, elected officials have taken us for granted, and they think they don't have to come here and rejuvenate the relationship." Regular Eso Won customer Deborah Rogers told the reporter, "Now you know Clinton was going to come to our community. He's not going to leave us out -- he never left us out."

The following day at Book Passage's new San Francisco store in the historic Ferry Building, 3,500 people lined up to meet Clinton and buy his book, and Clinton Book Tour buttons were selling well. The event was the largest in 28-year-old Book Passages' history. The previous record was held by Mr. Clinton's spouse, Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton, who signed 2,000 books at the Corte Madera store last year.

The store's co-owner, Elaine Petrocelli, told BTW, "The Clinton signing was amazing. He was warm and generous with his time. The people who met him and got their books signed were thrilled. After we sold 1,500 books, we told people we were not able to promise that they would get their books signed. In spite of that, thousands of hopeful people showed up. President Clinton signed books for a 103-year-old lady and an eight-day-old baby.… President Clinton stood for the signing. We stacked copies of My Life on the signing table and then placed a board on top of that. Since he's left handed, he was able to shake hands and sign almost simultaneously."

At Cody's Books in Berkeley, owner Andy Ross told The Daily Review that the store had received an estimated 20,000 phone calls about the book signing. Although the supply of 1,000 books, each with a free ticket for the signing, sold out in a matter of hours last week, many others without tickets stood in line for six or eight hours, lining a full square block from the store. Andy Ross joked to the Review, "The comparison is not to Harry Potter. The comparison is to the Second Coming of Christ. People really love this guy. There's never been anything of this magnitude before."

Clinton visited Elliott Bay Book Company in Seattle, Washington, on June 30. Again the crowds, several thousand strong, waited and were charmed by the celebrity author. He was able to impart a dose of his considerable appeal in the few seconds he spent with each of the 1,500 or so book buyers. And Mr. Clinton, as usual, seemed to thoroughly enjoy himself, according to a story in the Seattle Post-Intelligencer.

Clinton is no stranger to the 31-year-old Elliott Bay Book Company; in May 1999, with only a few minutes notice, then President Clinton made an unscheduled stop at the store to browse and to buy a bag of books. (To read more about that visit, click here.)

Barbara's Bookstore at the University of Illinois at Chicago is Clinton's next stop, on July 1, then the former president will return home to Chappaqua, New York, for a July 3 appearance at the Chappaqua Community Center in an event sponsored by the town's Second Story Bookshop. According to storeowner Joan Ripley, the event will begin at 11:00 a.m., and Clinton will spend about 90 minutes signing approximately 1,500 copies of his book. --Nomi Schwartz