The Mueller Report Is Still On Bestseller Lists

Exactly six weeks after its release--and one day after Robert Mueller's first press conference on the completion of his investigation--the Mueller Report remains on bestseller lists across the country.
The Washington Post's version, published with Scriber, is sitting at the top spot of the paperback list, besting George R. R. Martin's Game of Thrones. The same version has moved from slot fourteen to ten on the Amazon nonfiction bestseller list, and is sixth on the New York Timescombined paperback and hardcover nonfiction list, as well as first on the New York Times paperback nonfiction list. The Skyhorse version is down from first to third on the Washington Post's own list.
Perhaps most notably, on Amazon's "most read" nonfiction list, the Audible audiobook, which is free, is at slot seventeen, up from nineteen. Although we don't know how much of the report listeners actually engaged with, we know they listened to at least a bit--metrics we don't get from readers of physical books.
It's likely that consumers are finding the massive report easier to consume in an audio format. While the Audible version is nineteen hours long, the Washington Post paperback version is a daunting 736 pages--hardly carry-able. While the report was initially released as an extremely portable PDF, such a format presents accessibility and user-experience issues. E-book versions have come on the market (the Washington Post version, in addition to being available in paperback, is available as an e-book), but the cost barrier persists. The Digital Public Library of America, a nonprofit committed to increasing access to various institutional collections in the U.S., recently released a free e-book of the text to satisfy this need.
So, now there are plentiful accessible versions--free audiobooks, archived YouTube streams of live readings, physical books, and e-books--of this history-making report, and people are taking it all in. Should the House of Representatives make any future big moves--subpoenas, lawsuits, impeachment proceedings, etc.--we'll surely see movement on these non-government-issued versions of the report again.
Robert Mueller, special counsel for the U.S. Department of Justice, speaks at the Department of Justice in Washington, D.C. on Wednesday, May 29, 2019. Mueller said he found "insufficient evidence to charge a broader conspiracy" involving the Trump campaign but didn't reach a conclusion on whether President Donald Trump obstructed justice. Photographer: Andrew Harrer/Bloomberg © 2019 Bloomberg Finance LP
 © 2019 BLOOMBERG FINANCE LP
Robert Mueller, special counsel for the U.S. Department of Justice, speaks at the Department of Justice in Washington, D.C. on Wednesday, May 29, 2019. Mueller said he found "insufficient evidence to charge a broader conspiracy" involving the Trump campaign but didn't reach a conclusion on whether President Donald Trump obstructed justice. Photographer: Andrew Harrer/Bloomberg © 2019 Bloomberg Finance LP

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Ellen Duffer
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Consumer TechI write about the publishing industry and its digital innovations

The Mueller Report Is Still On Bestseller Lists

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