Christopher Hitchens is Richer Than Me

The Wall Street Journal ran a piece on Christopher Hitchens’ book God is Not Great.

In it, they revealed this little tidbit:

Today, seven weeks after the book went on sale, there are 296,000 copies in print. Demand has been so strong that booksellers and wholesalers were unable to get copies a short time after it hit stores, creating what the publishing industry calls a “dark week.” One experienced publishing veteran suggests that Mr. Hitchens will likely earn more than $1 million on this book.

That’s just about what I made on I Sold My Soul on eBay. Give or take $1,000,000.

Gawker says this about the success of the book (and the money Hitchens will make for it):

Wow, that’ll settle more than a few bar tabs. More surprising is where the sales are coming from: The book is doing surprisingly well among southern Godites, who are snapping up copies so that they can better refute Hitch’s arguments. Either way, expect to hear more from the godless.

Incidentally, the headline for the WSJ article calls Hitchens’ book a “surprise hit.”

How does the reporter describe Sam Harris’ Letter to a Christian Nation?

“Surprise hit.”

Richard Dawkins had the same thing said about his bestseller The God Delusion (around the 1:45 mark).

At what point will it become normal to see a book about atheism on the bestsellers lists?


[tags]atheist, atheism, The Wall Street Journal, Christopher Hitchens, God is Not Great, I Sold My Soul on eBay, Gawker, Sam Harris, Letter to a Christian Nation, Richard Dawkins, The God Delusion[/tags]