Opinion: Palin zooms to top of bestseller lists seven weeks before publication. Is that what ‘going rogue’ means?

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Sarah Palin likes to defy her critics. The first-term governor raised eyebrows last year when she accepted Republican Sen. John McCain’s offer to become his running mate, even though she had little national or international experience.

And, lashed by critics for a clothes-shopping spree and a daughter who became a teen mother without benefit of marriage, Palin defied expectations by quitting as governor of Alaska in the middle of her term, presumably to go make money.

Now, the one-time mayor of Wasilla, Alaska, has a new distinction.

Nearly seven weeks before the Nov. 17 date for publication of her tell-all memoir ‘Going Rogue,’ the book has jumped to No. 1 on Amazon and Barnes & Noble websites.

This puts her ahead of Dan Brown‘s ‘Lost Symbol,’ at No. 2 on Amazon.com, Glenn Beck‘s ‘Arguing With Idiots’ in the No. 3 spot and Ted Kennedy‘s posthumously published ‘True Compass’ at No. 6, at least as of this morning at 6 a.m. Pacific.

Meanwhile, the Wall Street Journal is reporting that HarperCollins, which plans a first print of 1.5 million of Palin’s book, is delaying publication of the e-version of ‘Going Rogue’ until Dec. 26. Amazon’s Kindle and other e-book readers have hurt hardcover sales, and Harper’s says it wanted to capitalize on Christmas.

‘The publishing plan is focused on maximizing velocity of the hardcover before Christmas, at a time when hardcover sales in the industry are down 15%,’ explained Harper CEO Brian Murray.

-- Johanna Neuman

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