Former President George W. Bush's memoir "Decision Points" sold at least 220,000 copies through its first day of release, with more than 20 percent generated by e-book purchases.
Random House Inc. announced Wednesday that opening-day sales, which include preorders and represent 95 percent of accounts reporting, was the publisher's highest for nonfiction since former President Clinton's "My Life" debuted with 400,000 sales in 2004. Bush's book came out Tuesday with an announced first printing of 1.5 million copies.
Random House said that e-sales were 50,000 so far, a number unthinkable when Clinton's book came out.
"It shows the digital market's rapid growth," said spokesman David Drake of the Crown Publishing Group, a Random House division.
Bush has been actively promoting the book, giving interviews to Matt Lauer, Oprah Winfrey and Sean Hannity among others.
Reviews so far have been mixed, as they were for "My Life" and for virtually all presidential memoirs. The Wall Street Journal's Daniel Henninger wrote that Bush's book "contains delightful and telling personal observations," while Jonathan Yardley of The Washington Post found "Decision Points" to be "competent, readable and flat."
