As the author of three non-fiction books, two of which have made the New York Timesbestsellers list, I have some experience in how to launch a book.
The rules are simple: Create buzz the week ahead of the book’s publication date by timing major TV and podcast appearances with military-like precision. Drop one major excerpt or interview two days ahead of the launch day and then, as the book comes out, offer “gets” to the most important outlets in descending order of importance. But—and here’s the huge caveat—do not give out so many excerpts so far ahead of the pub date that potential readers think they’ve read the best bits of the book ahead of time and therefore believe they don’t need to buy the actual book. You want to titillate readers, not drown them. In the past, I’ve been stopped from giving out snippets ahead of time to friends in the media by publicists screeching I’ll ruin everything if I do that.
Whether or not a book becomes a New York Times bestseller depends not just on the volume of sales, but on the velocity of those sales. It matters critically how many people buy the book that first week (and how many have pre-o rdered it up until that point), so the timing of all this is very important.
Now, there are many things that are very curious about the roll-out of Kushner’s book, ironically titled Breaking History. I wrote in June about how Kushner is indeed “breaking history”—just not in the way he intended—given that his book is coming out at the same time Congress is investigating his dealings with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman after the Saudi Public Investment Fund invested $2 billion with Kushner six months after he left office, overriding concerns from advisors about Kushner’s inexperience.
Kushner has not been charged with wrongdoing, but still—not the best circumstances to launch a book.