It appears readers were not rushing to buy a copy of Sen. John Fettermanâs (D-Pa.) new memoir âUnfetteredâ â not even in his home state.
Mediaite, citing a book review, reported no copies of the book was sold at his hometownâs Barnes & Noble store the first few days after the bookâs launch.
Fetterman and his ghostwriter reportedly received more than a million dollars in advance money from publisher Crown. Despite the investment, âUnfetteredâ has not gained traction in both online and retail stores.
âThe day after Fettermanâs book dropped, I called a handful of Barnes and Nobles and independent bookstores in Pennsylvania,â Defector Mediaâs Alex Shultzreported. âThe Barnes and Noble in York â where Fetterman was born and raised â had sold zero copies. The Barnes and Noble in Philadelphia had sold two copies.â
Two independent stores told Schultz they were not stocking the book; another store reported interest in the book had been âlukewarm.â
âIn fairness, things can of course change. But the early signs are not good,â Schulz said. âA few days after âUnfetteredâ came out, it was ranked No. 82,145 among all books on Amazon. As of Monday, Nov. 17 (not quite a week since the bookâs release), itâs No. 15,713.â
The book is currently listed as the number one bestselling Amazon book under the category âUnited States Local Government.â it is narrowly beating Pete Buttigiegâs memoir âShortest Way Home,â which was released in 2019.
âThere is no audience for âUnfettered,â and I do not think Crown will get its moneyâs worth on this memoir,â Shultz wrote.
He described the book as a âboringâ and full of âwhat the country already knows,â with antidotes about when Fetterman peed his pants as a child and was told he was too tall to go trick-or-treating.
On X, Shultz posted Fettermanâs book had sold less than 2,600 copies in its first week altogether.
âThat ranks No. 19 in the adult autobiographies category, two spots behind Chris Matthewsâ RFK hagiography. Not what you want, numbers-wise,â he wrote.
