Hard times for Hillary's 'Hard Choices': Sales of the memoir plunge in its second week since release

Hillary Clinton's new memoir "Hard Choices," was released to much fanfare, but subpar sales during its first week in stores. In the second week since the book's publication, things got far worse for the former Secretary of State's title.

The New York Times reports that sales of Hillary Clinton's new book declined 43.5 percent to 48,000 copies in its second week, from 85,000 copies sold during its first week, based on data from Nielsen BookScan.

According to a publishing executive who spoke with the Times, these second-week figures indicate that publisher Simon & Schuster is unlikely to sell enough copies to recoup the rumored $14 million advance paid to Clinton for the book.

Although it might not have met commercial expectations, the book has still managed to sell well relative to other political nonfiction titles, including recent releases by fellow former Obama administration officials, Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner and Secretary of Defense Robert Gates.

"Hard Choices" will be No. 1 on this Sunday's New York Times hardcover nonfiction best sellers list, and on Amazon, it is the 28th best selling book and the third best selling "Politics and Social Sciences" hardcover, after Ed Klein's "Blood Feud" and Thomas Piketty's "Capital."

Sales figures aside, readers have judged "Hard Choices" harshly, with the book rated at 2.1/5.0 on Amazon based on 1,019 customer reviews and 3.38/5.00 on Goodreads based on 114 ratings as of this writing.