Is Trump Ruining Book Sales? | New Republic

"I was told that it just came out at a really bad time, but that that was true across the board," says author Alana Massey. Back in 2015, her debut essay collection, All The Lives I Want, was sold for a solid six-figure deal to Grand Central Publishing, home to authors such as Melissa Broder, Candace Bushnell, and Nicholas Sparks. Massey's book was released just ten days after Trump's ban in early February, and though it received plenty of positive press, it came at a time when national attention was almost entirely focused on politics. Due to the political circumstances, Massey said, "I was sort of jokingly told that any books that weren't political, dystopian, or both, weren't really selling." Trump's Presidential win has sent a rippling effect through the book publishing world, affecting authors, booksellers, editors, agents, and publicists: In a world where reality has become stranger than fiction, actual books are no longer selling.