Despite garnering national exposure for Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, her memoir is setting any sales records.

True Gretch: What I’ve Learned About Life, Leadership, and Everything In Between, co-written by Whitmer and Lisa Dickey, was released last week, The book boasts jacket blurbs from The Daily Show’s Jordan Klepper, actor Lynda Carter, and U.S. Rep. Hakeem Jeffries, R-NY. Additionally, Whitmer has appeared on national television to promote sales of the book.

In one such appearance, late-night host Stephen Colbert mocked the relatively small size of the book, 158 pages with large type and wide spacing. “It’s slender,” he observed, eliciting laughter from his studio audience.

However, despite rumors Whitmer might replace either incumbent U.S. President Joe Biden or Vice President Kamala Harris on the Democratic ticket, national book buyers aren’t biting. The latest New York Times list of hardcover nonfiction bestsellers includes recent releases by Anthony Fauci, a book detailing the abuse of women in the Kennedy family orbit, and celebrity autobiographies by Griffin Dunne and Jennette McCurdy. But there’s no sign of Whitmer or her book anywhere on the list. It has also failed to gain traction on the Publishers Weekly Bestsellers list.

Go Ad-Free, Get Content, Go Premium Today - $1 Trial

MORE NEWS: Speaker Hall: Rival candidates should be concerned about SOS Jocelyn Benson controlling ballot access

The book, published by Simon & Schuster, lists at $26.99, but can be purchased online for as low as $17.73, with a paperback edition available for $12.99.

This despite the glowing blurbs on the book’s jacket, which are also included among the reader reviews on Amazon. Among those are one blurb by Kara Swisher, a NYT bestselling author, who wrote: “As someone who has long committed to non-blurbing, this wonderful and, yes, exquisitely wacky how-to-be-a-shark guide by That Woman from Michigan is a must-read for badass ladies everywhere and for anyone who aspires to be one. I laughed, I cried, and now, god [sic] help me, I am a happy half-Whit. (Also, sorry, Big Gretch, but my UMich son requires it: Go Blue!)”

Swisher’s reference to sharks stems from Whitmer’s appropriation of a joke from stand up comic Na’im Lynn in which she coins Shark Week as an idiomatic expression for the menstrual cycle, followed by a common vulgarism. As in: “It’s Shark Week, MF!” Whitmer does not refrain from using the entire phrase in True Gretch.

This is all recounted in the True Gretch chapter titled “Be a Happy Warrior,” in which Whitmer says humor is vital to succeeding in public life and for whom profanity isn’t anathema. After all, her motto in life is “to get shit done” and her campaign slogan was “Fix the Damn Roads.”

Go Ad-Free, Get Content, Go Premium Today - $1 Trial

Do you think President Trump is doing a good job at stopping illegal immigration?

By completing the poll, you agree to receive emails from The Midwesterner, occasional offers from our partners and that you've read and agree to our privacy policy and legal statement.

“I even got a shark tattoo, which I’ve never revealed in public,” Whitmer wrote, “even though it is, let’s be honest, way cooler than any smiley-face tattoo could ever be.”