美国国家公共电台 NPR--Jan. 6 report isn't dominating the sales charts like prior government reports

Jan. 6 report isn't dominating the sales charts like prior government reports

Transcript¹

The Jan. 6 report was set to be a major boon² for publishers. A week out, sales have been relatively³ slow compared to other blockbuster government reports. (Story first aired on ATC on Jan. 16, 2023.)

A MART?NEZ, HOST:

Since the release of the January 6 committee report, several publishers have raced to make the free government document available as a book. This isn't the first time a government report has gotten that treatment. The 9/11 Commission report and the Mueller report were both bestsellers. So how does the January 6 report compare? Here's Andrew Limbong, host of NPR's Book of the Day podcast.

ANDREW LIMBONG, BYLINE⁴: You, me and the various publishers waiting with bated breath got the 845-page report all at the same time.

GUY OLDFIELD: It was 9:45 p.m. on the 22 of December.

LIMBONG: That's Guy Oldfield, the senior director of production for Macmillan Audio. He was in charge of getting the audiobook version together as soon as possible.

OLDFIELD: The planning for this project started much, much earlier in the year.

LIMBONG: He'd already lined up nine of his experienced, most-efficient narrators and paired them up with nine of his sharpest audio editors. And they got to work reading and recording⁵ the mammoth⁶ report.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING

LISA FLANAGAN: Chapter 1, The Big Lie, read for you by Lisa Flanagan. Late on election night 2020, President Donald. J. Trump⁷ addressed the nation.

OLDFIELD: It really was just a kind of a maths puzzle, and we figured it out.

LIMBONG: They figured it out fast, too. Oldfield and his team got the nearly 24-hour audio book mixed and mastered by Christmas Eve morning. So with that sprint⁸ of effort behind him, was it all worth it?

OLDFIELD: We didn't set ourselves any particular expectations. We really weren't certain. But having seen the sales numbers, it was well worth the effort. It really, really was. To be out there and to be out there first - definitely worthwhile.

LIMBONG: Here's Kristen McLean, the primary industry analyst⁹ for NPD Books Group, which tracks book sales. She compared the first-week sales figures from the January 6 report to both the 9/11 Commission report and the Mueller report.

KRISTEN MCLEAN: First-week sales for the January 6 committee are definitely weaker than what we saw for the first week of either the Mueller report or the 9/11 report - less than half of the sales volume for this report compared to, say, the Mueller report.

LIMBONG: McLean says these first few weeks are big indicators¹⁰.

MCLEAN: Typically, these types of reports have strong first weeks, and then they taper¹¹ off within three weeks of the launch date in terms of the total volume sold.

LIMBONG: McLean says this big drop-off between the January 6 report and the 9/11 Commission report is that it's just entering a different America. Our politics are more polarized. Our media landscape is much more diffuse¹². But for Guy Oldfield, the director of production for Macmillan Audio, the chance to make the January 6 report into an audiobook was a chance to be a part of history.

OLDFIELD: I'm a student of political science, and I could tell that this is a document that generations of Americans are going to go to and back to and consume and study for years to come. And it is - I don't want to sound, like, cliche¹³, but it really is living history. And I think an audio version just makes it all the more real.

LIMBONG: And just because the January 6 report isn't dominating the sales charts like the 9/11 report did, there's still incentive¹⁴ for publishers to put out free government documents.

MCLEAN: They're not paying in advance to an author for this information, right? They may be paying an advance to someone to write a foreword. But beyond that, every unit that goes out the door has a profit margin¹⁵ attached for that publisher.

LIMBONG: For instance, according to McLean, one document that's consistently on the bestsellers list for political science is the United States Constitution.

Andrew Limbong, NPR News.

(SOUNDBITE OF BOOKER T AND THE MGS' "SOUL DRESSING")

1 transcript   

n.抄本，誊本，副本，肄业证书

参考例句：

• A transcript of the tapes was presented as evidence in court.一份录音带的文字本作为证据被呈交法庭。
• They wouldn't let me have a transcript of the interview.他们拒绝给我一份采访的文字整理稿。

2 boon   

n.恩赐，恩物，恩惠

参考例句：

• A car is a real boon when you live in the country.在郊外居住，有辆汽车确实极为方便。
• These machines have proved a real boon to disabled people.事实证明这些机器让残疾人受益匪浅。

3 relatively   

adv.比较...地，相对地

参考例句：

• The rabbit is a relatively recent introduction in Australia.兔子是相对较新引入澳大利亚的物种。
• The operation was relatively painless.手术相对来说不痛。

4 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

5 recording   

n.录音，记录

参考例句：

• How long will the recording of the song take?录下这首歌得花多少时间？
• I want to play you a recording of the rehearsal.我想给你放一下彩排的录像。

6 mammoth   

n.长毛象；adj.长毛象似的，巨大的

参考例句：

• You can only undertake mammoth changes if the finances are there.资金到位的情况下方可进行重大变革。
• Building the new railroad will be a mammoth job.修建那条新铁路将是一项巨大工程。

7 trump   

n.王牌，法宝；v.打出王牌，吹喇叭

参考例句：

• He was never able to trump up the courage to have a showdown.他始终鼓不起勇气摊牌。
• The coach saved his star player for a trump card.教练保留他的明星选手，作为他的王牌。

8 sprint   

n.短距离赛跑；vi. 奋力而跑，冲刺；vt.全速跑过

参考例句：

• He put on a sprint to catch the bus.他全速奔跑以赶上公共汽车。
• The runner seemed to be rallied for a final sprint.这名赛跑者似乎在振作精神作最后的冲刺。

9 analyst   

n.分析家，化验员；心理分析学家

参考例句：

• What can you contribute to the position of a market analyst?你有什么技能可有助于市场分析员的职务？
• The analyst is required to interpolate values between standards.分析人员需要在这些标准中插入一些值。

10 indicators   

（仪器上显示温度、压力、耗油量等的）指针( indicator的名词复数 )； 指示物； （车辆上的）转弯指示灯； 指示信号

参考例句：

• The economic indicators are better than expected. 经济指标比预期的好。
• It is still difficult to develop indicators for many concepts used in social science. 为社会科学领域的许多概念确立一个指标仍然很难。

11 taper   

n.小蜡烛，尖细，渐弱；adj.尖细的；v.逐渐变小

参考例句：

• You'd better taper off the amount of time given to rest.你最好逐渐地减少休息时间。
• Pulmonary arteries taper towards periphery.肺动脉向周围逐渐变细。

12 diffuse   

v.扩散；传播；adj.冗长的；四散的，弥漫的

参考例句：

• Direct light is better for reading than diffuse light.直射光比漫射光更有利于阅读。
• His talk was so diffuse that I missed his point.他的谈话漫无边际，我抓不住他的要点。

13 cliche   

n./a.陈词滥调(的)；老生常谈(的)；陈腐的

参考例句：

• You should always try to avoid the use of cliche. 你应该尽量避免使用陈词滥调。
• The old cliche is certainly true:the bigger car do mean bigger profits.有句老话倒的确说得不假:车大利大。

14 incentive   

n.刺激；动力；鼓励；诱因；动机

参考例句：

• Money is still a major incentive in most occupations.在许多职业中，钱仍是主要的鼓励因素。
• He hasn't much incentive to work hard.他没有努力工作的动机。

15 margin   

n.页边空白；差额；余地，余裕；边，边缘

参考例句：

• We allowed a margin of 20 minutes in catching the train.我们有20分钟的余地赶火车。
• The village is situated at the margin of a forest.村子位于森林的边缘。