Scott Walker

The Wisconsin governor is building his campaign around what many conservatives see as his signature accomplishment: taking on unions. In his 2014 memoir, Unintimidated: A Governor’s Story and A Nation’s Challenge, Walker recounts his successful battle to strip organized labor of collective bargaining rights. It was this victory that catapulted Walker from being a local politician to one seen as a GOP frontrunner for the White House, and seemed to prove what conservatives like Rush Limbaugh had been saying for years: that Republicans should stop trying to elect moderates. “Walker is living proof that conservatives need not move to the center to win,” the promotional copy reads. Letting more than a couple of years go by before refreshing one’s vision for the country in a new memoir isn’t advisable. As the recent shift in attitudes about gay marriage and marijuana have shown, a lot can change in that amount of time. This category includes writers who have seen the benefit of releasing works timed to political campaigns, but, for whatever reason, haven’t taken the time to pen more books to coincide with still more attempts at attaining higher office.

Rand Paul

While Paul seems to spend an awful lot of time trolling his political rivals on the Internet, the senator from Kentucky has also written two memoirs. In 2011, he released The Tea Party Goes to Washington, and in 2012, he followed up with Government Bullies: How Everyday Americans Are Being Harassed, Abused, and Imprisoned by the Feds,a libertarian call to arms that featured a foreword by Paul’s father, Ron, and that Sarah Palin praised as “an exciting and needed call to change for all Americans.” With Paul contemplating a White House run, it was clear that another book could help spread his limited government message, and so far, it appears that his new title will bee a word of mouth affair. On May 26, he is slated to release the audio book Taking a Stand: Moving Beyond Partisan Politics to Unite America.

John Kasich

If Kasich, Ohio’s governor, is serious about running for president, he may want to consider writing a new book. Kashich’s last title, Every Other Monday: Twenty Years of Life, Lunch, Faith and Friendship was released back in 2010. Chronicling the twice-a-month meetings of members of Kasich’s Bible study group, the timeless topics range from whether a supreme being actually exists, to how one stays spiritually grounded while striving to rise in the ranks at work. Before Every Other Monday, Kasich published two other memoirs, 2006’s Stand for Something: The Battle for America’s Soul, and 1998’s Courage is Contagious. Among the fans of Kasich’s past literary works is ABC News’ George Stephanopoulos, who declared, “Stand for Something is passionate, principled, and sure to provoke.”

Rick Perry

While Perry’s “oops” moment in the 2012 presidential debates sticks in many voters’ minds, his two memoirs–written during his tenure as Texas governor–have also found their own impression. His 2011 book, Fed Up: Our Fight to Save America from Washington seemed to impress Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal, for example. “My friend Rick Perry knows that it is the American people who make this country great and not Washington,” Jindal said of the book. “With appropriate respect for both our rich history and the practical needs of today, Rick sees a bright future for America, based on freedom and limited government.” In his earlier work, 2008’s On My Honor: Why the American Values of the Boy Scouts Are Worth Fighting For, Perry’s beef is with secular humanists who are, according to the former governor, helping to erode the country’s value systeme, and, more specifically, “the left’s legal assaults on the Boy Scouts of America.”

Bobby Jindal

In Leadership and Crisis,  Jindal’s only political memoir to date, the abiding theme is that Bobby Jindal knows how to get things done. The 2010 release details the governor’s response in the years following Hurricane Katrina and Deepwater Horizon oil spill disasters, slamming the federal government’s efforts at regular turns. Once again, Jeb Bush found himself with enough time to read the book, and offer a few kind words. “Bobby Jindal’s principled leadership shows that conservative ideas applied to today’s problems can net real results. He is emerging as one of the nation’s most competent leader,” Bush stated. Plan B: Writing Career
Some politicians have has such success as writers that running for office might be seen as a good way to promote book sales rather than the other way around. These authors in this category may also publish books timed to the launch of a political campaign, but they’ve also spent a so much time on their literary output that they could easily fall back on a career as a writer if the politics thing doesn’t work out.

Rick Santorum

Despite releasing his self-titled debut memoir in 2005, and coming out with his second book, It Takes a Family: Conservatism and the Common Good, a year later, the Pennsylvania senator lost his seat in 2006 after two terms in office. On the bright side, that gave him more time to write books. After Santorum conceded the Republican presidential nomination to Mitt Romney in the fall of 2012, Santorum and conservative columnist William Bennet came out with American Patriots: Answering the Call to Freedom.Two years later, Santorum was back on bookstore shelves withBlue Collar Conservatives: Recommitting to an America that Works,but ahead of the 2016 campaign, he has released the deeply personal Bella’s Gift: How One Little Girl Transformed Our Family and Inspired a Nation. It details the story of the Santorum’s eighth child, Bella, who was born with the chromosome disorder Trisomy 18, and the wrenching choices the family has to make upon learning of her diagnosis.

Ben Carson

Though Carson has never held elected office, the retired neurosurgeon has a lot of experience publishing books. In 1990, Carson made his literary debut with Gifted Hands: The Ben Carson Story.From there, he moved to Zondervan Publishing, a Christian publishing house, and released  Think Big: Unleashing Your Potential for Excellence (1996), The Big Picture (2000), Take the Risk: Learning to Identify, Choose, and Live with Acceptable Risk (2008),  America the Beautiful: Rediscovering What Made This Nation Great(2011). By 2014, Carson had been awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by George W. Bush, declared himself a Republican, and given a widely publicized speech at 2013’s National Prayer Breakfast. A bona fide literary commodity, Carson released two more books in 2014: One Nation: What We Can All Do to Save America’s Future and One Vote: Make Your Voice Heard. In 2015, Carson kept up his prodigious pace withYou Have a Brain: A Teen’s Guide to T.H.I.N.K. B.I.G., an acronym that stands for Talent, Honesty, Insight, being Nice, Knowledge, Books, In-Depth learning, and God.

To contact the author on this story: David Knowles at dknowles9@bloomberg.net