An Obama boom in the publishing industry

NEW YORK (AP) - November 12, 2008 According to Nielsen Bookscan, which tracks about 70 percent of the country's sales, more than 100,000 copies of his books sold Nov. 3-9, including 50,000 copies each of "The Audacity of Hope" and "Dreams from My Father" and 19,000 copies of "Change We Can Believe In," a collection of speeches and policy papers.

Bids on eBay for a signed first edition of "The Audacity of Hope," a million-seller published in 2006, have topped $1,000.

Meanwhile, publishers are grabbing up new books about Obama, the first black president-elect. According to the industry newsletter www.publishersmarketplace.com, which compiles deals, at least seven Obama-related projects have been agreed upon since the Nov. 4 election.

They include William Eggers' and John O'Leary's "If We Can Put a Man on the Moon," a policy "roadmap" for the incoming administration, and "Renegade: The Education of Barack Obama," by Newsweek's Richard Wolffe.