The Write Stuff

April 6, 2007 — -- Author, author!

It's a title that applies to many of the '08 presidential contenders, including Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill.

Obama's second memoir, "The Audacity of Hope," is enjoying its 23rd week on The New York Times' best-sellers list.

"A book is considered one of the things you should do if you want to be taken seriously as a presidential candidate," said Peter Osnos, founder of PublicAffairs Books, an independent publisher based in New York.

Osnos -- who has published books by former President Clinton; former Vice President Al Gore; Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass.; and '08 candidate former Sen. John Edwards, D-N.C. -- said writing a book had become part of the modern presidential campaign.

"You have to have advertising. You have to have blogs. You have to have a Web site. … If you want to run for president, you have to run for president in every conceivable way and writing a book is part of it," he said.

Obama's book, which is part autobiography, part plan for America, is currently No. 5 on The New York Times' best-sellers list for nonfiction and has sold almost 1 million copies.

Like his first-quarter fundraising haul, Obama's book sales are closing in on those of his '08 Democratic rival Sen. Hillary Clinton, D-N.Y.

Clinton's 2003 book, "Living History," which included details of her reaction to the Monica Lewinsky affair, sold 1.2 million copies to date, according to Neilsen BookScan, which tracks book sales in bookstores and online retailers. And her book on child-rearing, "It Takes a Village," was recently re-released this year 10 years after it was first published.

Political analysts say that books can boost a presidential bid.

"History has shown that a successful book can really elevate the candidates' chances," said Mark Halperin, a ABC News' political analyst and author of "The Way to Win."

"It allows the candidate to go on a book tour with the publisher paying for travel, and do basically what amounts to campaign events," Halperin said.

"And if the book sells well," Halperin said, "it's a way to validate their popularity by saying some voters have already voted with their wallets by buying the book."

In Obama's case, Halperin said, "it allowed him to go on a big book tour with a lot of television and public appearances."

"It has also allowed him to expose a lot of people to his ideas in a longer format that otherwise wouldn't have been possible," Halperin said. "It also made him some money."

Obama and Clinton aren't alone.