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Palin’s book already a best-seller before release

‘Going Rogue’ outselling Kennedy’s ‘True Compass,’ Brown’s ‘Lost Symbol’

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Sept. 29: The publisher of former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin’s new memoir, “Going Rogue,” has decided to move up its release date. NBC’s Norah O’Donnell reports.

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Nov. 11: TODAY’s Matt Lauer talks to Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin and her family at their Wasilla home about how the whirlwind campaign changed all their lives.

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Nov. 12: In her Anchorage office, Gov. Sarah Palin talks to Matt Lauer about her interview with Katie Couric and her plans for the future.

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updated 9:20 p.m. ET Sept. 30, 2009

NEW YORK - Just two days after HarperCollins announced that Sarah Palin's "Going Rogue" had been moved up from the spring to Nov. 17, preorders Wednesday night for the former Alaska governor's memoir made it No. 1 on both Amazon.com and Barnes & Noble.com.

Among the books "Going Rogue" is outselling: Sen. Ted Kennedy's "True Compass," Mitch Albom's "Have a Little Faith" and Dan Brown's "The Lost Symbol," his first novel since "The Da Vinci Code" and, perhaps until now, the year's most anticipated release.

Palin, in collaboration with author Lynn Vincent, completed her 400-page book just four months after agreeing to terms with HarperCollins, which plans a first printing of 1.5 million copies. It's the first book by Palin, the 2008 Republican vice presidential candidate and Alaska governor until suddenly resigning last summer.

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An invaluable platform
She is regarded as a possible 2012 contender for the presidency. Past candidates, notably Barack Obama, have been helped by writing best-selling books, invaluable platforms for politicians to tell their story.

The response at Alaska bookstores was mixed.

A woman taking a call at Waldenbooks in Wasilla, Palin's hometown, said she was pre-ordering a copy at that moment and there had been "lots of interest." She would not give her name but referred a reporter to her boss, Borders district manager Grant Larsen, who said interest had been strong both in Wasilla and Anchorage.

"We're very excited about it and already have several signed up," he said. "We're expecting that to be massive."

'Going all mavericky'
A lot of people are coming into the store and asking to reserve a copy, Larsen said. Borders booksellers also are asking customers if they want to reserve one. The more people reserve copies, he said, the more copies the stores will get.

Julie Drake, co-owner of Anchorage's largest independent bookstore, Title Wave, stopped to quiz her booksellers about Palin's book.

"Nobody has said a word. Not a single customer has asked about it. I don't know what that means. Maybe we're all going rogue, going all mavericky," she said.

Copyright 2009 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

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