Gov. Gavin Newsom’s status as bestselling author is officially in doubt.
Revelationshis PAC, Campaign for Democracy,spent $1.6 million buying up copies of his book, has led to the New York Times slapping an asterisk on the ranking of his memoir, noting bulk purchases.
Newsom’s listing “Young Man in a Hurry” on the New York Times bestseller list includes a “dagger” symbol, which is meant to indicate that sales were inflated by institutional buys, instead of through word-of-mouth and rave reviews.
The California governor, who boasted of selling 100,000 copies of the memoir, has bought around two-thirds of those copies through his PAC as part of a push for donations.
“When The Times has reason to believe that sales of a book include a mix of organic and bulk sales, the book’s best-seller ranking is accompanied by a dagger. That’s what we did with the Newsom book,” a New York Times spokesperson explained.
It’s unclear when the dagger symbol was added, though archived versions of the New York Times’ site show it displayed underneath the book description in early March, when it was ranked #15.
Newsom deployed his extensive email list to shill the memoir, described as an ”intimate and poignant account of identity, belonging, and the defining moments that inspired a life in politics.”
A January emailoffered free copies of the tometo donors “of any amount.”
”The average cost per book is $22.45 including shipping. If you can give that, great. If you can only give $5, great,” Newsom wrote in the sales pitch.
“See this book? I’d really like you to read it,” Newsom wrote in another Februarynote pleading with supporters to help him land on the New York Times bestseller list.
Source: California Post – Breaking California News, Photos & Videos
