Ted Cruz’s book did not make the New York Times bestseller list in its first week. The New York Times claimed the book, which would have been No. 3 based on straight sales numbers, was barred from the list for “strategic bulk sales.” The New York Times informed HarperCollins this week that it will not include Ted Cruz’s new biography on its forthcoming bestsellers list, despite the fact that the book has sold more copies in its first week than all but two of the Times’ bestselling titles, the On Media blog has learned.
Cruz’s “A Time For Truth,” published on June 30, sold 11,854 copies in its first week, according to Nielsen Bookscan’s hardcover sale numbers. That’s more than 18 of the 20 titles that will appear on the bestseller list for the week ending July 4. Aziz Ansari’s “Modern Romance,” which is #2 on the list, sold fewer than 10,000 copies. Ann Coulter’s “Adios America,” at #11, sold just over half as many copies.
Harper Collins said, nope, no bulk sales here:
“HarperCollins Publishers has investigated the sales pattern for Ted Cruz’s book A TIME FOR TRUTH and has found no evidence of bulk orders or sales through any retailer or organization” the publisher said in a statement. They note that The Wall Street Journal, Barnes and Noble, and Nielsen all listed Cruz’s book as a bestseller, and all three organizations omit bulk sales.
Barnes & Noble: Nope, no evidence of bulk sales.
Yet another publishing industry giant has reviewed its sales data for Republican presidential candidate Ted Cruz‘s new book “A Time for Truth” and found no evidence of bulk sales.
Cruz is in the midst of a heated feud with The New York Times over the paper’s refusal to add his book to their bestsellers list. The Times argued that after examining sales data, they had concluded that the “overwhelming preponderance of the evidence” pointed towards bulk purchases, disqualifying Cruz from the list.
Amazon: Nope, no bulk sales.
On Sunday, an Amazon spokesperson told the On Media blog that the company’s sales data showed no evidence of unusual bulk purchase activity for the Texas senator’s memoir, casting further doubt on the Times’ claim that the book — “A Time for Truth” — had been omitted from its list because sales had been driven by “strategic bulk purchases.”
“As of yesterday, ‘A Time for Truth’ was the number 13 best-selling book, and there is no evidence of unusual bulk purchase activity in our sales data,” Sarah Gelman, Amazon’s director of press relations, said in an email.
NYT: Um, well, fine. He can be on the bestseller list.
Times spokesperson Eileen Murphy said that the newspaper made no changes to its selection process, and so the fact that Cruz’s book is being included now suggests a rise in individual purchases, spurred by his public battle with the paper.
“This week’s NYT best seller list was arrived at using the same process as last week’s – and the week before that,” Murphy wrote. “That process involves a careful analysis of data, and is not influenced in any way by the content of a book, or by pressure from publishers or book sellers.”
Both HarperCollins, the book’s publisher, and Amazon, the largest Internet retailer in the country, said last week that they had found “no evidence” that bulk purchases drove the book’s sales numbers. On Friday, Cruz campaign spokesperson Rick Tyler accused the Times of “obvious partisan bias,” and called on the paper to reveal its methodology or else publicly apologize.
The Times has resolutely stood by its claim, and has refused to reveal its methodology on the grounds that doing so might threaten the integrity of the process.
Sure, Kate. The only thing that doesn’t make this an open-and-shut left-wing conspiracy is my sneaking suspicion that there must be a right-wing mole over there to have started a fight so gigantic and demonstrably biased between the NYT and Ted Cruz. Talk about a fundraising and bookselling boon!
The Cruz campaign has called for the NYT public editor to examine how it is that a book with 11K+ in a week of sales with no evidence of bulk sales missed the list the first week. I look forward to the answer.
