Donald Trump Jr’s bestselling book might not be as impressive as it looks at first.
The president’s son has been boasting about how his book Triggeredwas named as the top nonfiction book in the New York Times’ bestsellers list this week.
Even his dad has managed to put aside his ongoing feud with the Timesto celebrate the news.
The Timesput a dagger character next to Triggered’s spot on the list, indicating “institutional, special interest, group or bulk purchases”.
And who could be behind those bulk purchases?
Well, the Republican Party has apparently been giving away signed copies of Trump Jr’s book as part of its fundraising appeals.
The RNC is giving away signed Donald Trump Jr. books to donors. (This is a tactic that helps boost reported sales) https://t.co/AvNozpspm5— Zeke Miller (@Zeke Miller) 1572994219
NEW: Trump using campaign funds to bulk purchase his son’s book https://t.co/McdhDJ8ymn— Judd Legum (@Judd Legum) 1572998304
The @GOP is gonna have one hell of a bonfire with all the copies of Don Jr.'s book they just bought in bulk.— Mr. Newberger (@Mr. Newberger) 1573749052
Steve Guest, a spokesperson for the Republican National Committee, told AP on Thursday that Triggered was being offered as a fundraising incentive, but he argued that this was normal for political books.
He insisted that copies of the book were being bought “to keep up with demand”.
AP also reported that Trump Jr’s book sold an estimated 71,000 copies last week, according to NPD BookScan, which would make it the bestselling nonfiction book.
However, BookScan could not determine yesterday how many of those sales came from bulk purchases so that figure doesn’t disprove the theory that the Republican Party artificially boosted his sales.
According to Fortune, Triggeredwas ranked only fourth on Amazon’s bestsellers on Thursday and was down at no. 44 on Barnes & Nobles Top 100 list - but both those lists use real-time data, while the Timeslist is based on sales across the whole week.
We don’t really know for sure how much of the book’s success was down to bulk sales.
Nevertheless, Trump Jr went on Fox News this morning to suggest that the Timeswas engaged in a liberal conspiracy against conservatives writers…
Donald Trump Jr says the New York Times flagging his book for benefitting from bulk sales is a liberal media conspi… https://t.co/hS4Rw3QreA— Aaron Rupar (@Aaron Rupar) 1573824770
He sounds pretty “triggered” by the whole controversy.
HT: The Daily Dot