<P> The Hunt for Red October sold very well and launched Clancy's successful career as a novelist . President Ronald Reagan helped to fuel the success of The Hunt for Red October when he announced that he enjoyed the book at a televised press conference, calling it "unputdown - able" and a "perfect yarn ." </P> <P> The hardback edition of The Hunt for Red October is the first novel published by the United States Naval Institute Press . Clancy, a Baltimore native and insurance agent in Laurel, Maryland, had not been able to place the novel with any traditional publishers, but had a good relationship with the Press from writing military technology articles in their academic journal Proceedings of the Naval Institute . To his surprise the Press accepted the manuscript and sent a small advance . After receiving unexpected praise from President Ronald Reagan, the book became a bestseller . Clancy's later books were published by well known New York firm G.P. Putnam's Sons subsidiary Penguin Putnam)). </P> <P> The paperback edition was the first in a string of successful publications of techno - thrillers by Berkley Books . </P> <P> In 1988, it was published in French as Octobre Rouge, translated by Marianne Véron and with the collaboration of Jean Sabbagh . </P>

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