Starbucks mogul Howard Schultz isn’t the first Random House author to flirt with running for president. Donald Trump boosted sales of “The Art of the Deal” by posing as a potential candidate in 1987, and Colin Powell made “My American Journey” a best-seller in 1995 before eventually announcing he would not run.
“Same publisher. Same playbook,” said one marketing source.
“They forever ‘deny’ their absolute intentions, the book climbs the charts because of all the free media, and then they don’t even enter a primary . . . coincidence?”
Schultz’s book, “From the Ground Up,” debuted at No. 3 on the New York Times nonfiction best-seller list, but Schultz, who said he might run as an independent, seemed unprepared at a recent CNN town hall.
Random House had no comment.