Howard Stern Books
The two Howard Stern books written are Private Parts (released in 1993) and Miss America (released in 1995). Both these books proved very popular, getting a lot of attention from the media. They got to the top of the best seller list of New York Times during the first week after they were released.
Private Parts
This was Howard Stern’s first autobiography, released by Simon & Schuster in 1993. It is the book that sold at the quickest rate, out of all the titles sold by the company. In 1994, another 2.8 million copies were printed by Simon & Schuster, for the paperback edition.
Howard Stern and the staff of his show played in the movie based on the book, which was filmed in 1997.
While the first chapters are of an autobiographical nature, talking about the early life and career of Howard Stern, the later ones are made as a memoir, talking about flatulence, sex and celebrities. Stern tried to name his book Mein Kampf first, and Penis later, but the publisher refused both. The compromise was the name Private Parts.
The reviews of the critics were mixed and the content was opposed by many, just like his radio show. It’s one of the most challenged book of the last two decades.
Even though the initial reviews were mixed and a few stores refused to keep the book, Private Parts sold extremely well, in part due to the book signing tour done by Howard Stern in many cities from all over the US.
Private Parts was number one on the list of non-fiction works for a period of five weeks, from October 9th to November 6th, 1993. The total amount of time that the book was on the best seller list was twenty weeks. The number one spot was reached after just one week after it was launched.
Miss America
The second book written by Howard Stern is called Miss America and it was launched by Regan Books in 1995.
On the cover of this book you can see Howard Stern dressed in drag and the back of the first edition had him together with O.J. Simpson, at Donald Trump’s wedding. In 1996, the paperback edition was launched, and it had three versions, with Stern in drag with red, brunette and blonde hair. It also had some photographs in color, which the first edition didn’t have.
When the sales of the book begun, there were 250 people waiting in line for the Barnes & Noble library from Fifth Avenue, New York, to open. All the Barnes & Noble libraries from the US sold a total of 33,000 copies during the first day after the launch.
The record previously held by Madonna’s book, called Sex, was smashed by Miss America. One week after Miss America was released, the book reached the top of the best seller list of New York Times. It stayed on this list for a total of 16 weeks.
Miss America sold nine times better than the next book on the list at that time. By the time 1995 ended, this book was sold as hardcover in 1,398,880 copies. It was the third most sold book of 1995.
Next year, in 1996, over 1.6 million copies of Miss America were sold, and in 1998 Amazon.com called it its most sold paperback book for that year.