Notorious “wacko bird” and Republican presidential candidate Ted Cruz is furious that his book, A Time for Truth, didn’t make the New York Times Bestseller list. What’s worse, he and his publisher, HarperCollins, think it’s a conspiracy to keep Cruz off of the list. However, the New York Times says it’s because Cruz’s camp is having someone buy the book up in bulk to make it appear that people actually are interested in it.
“We have uniform standards that we apply to our best seller list, which includes an analysis of book sales that goes beyond simply the number of books sold,” New York Times spokesperson Eileen Murphy explained when asked about the omission. “This book didn’t meet that standard this week.”
Talking Points Memo reported that Cruz’s book sold 11,854 copies in its first week. A New York Times spokesperson said “the preponderance of evidence was that sales were limited to strategic bulk purchases.” Essentially, there wasn’t over 11,000 individuals who bought the book, but fewer entities who bought several books. That makes A Time for Truth ineligible for the list.
HarperCollins said that they found no evidence of bulk purchases. “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,” said HarperCollins publicity director Tina Andreadis.
This situation turned into a game of “he-said, she-said.” It’s hard to imagine who would want to read Cruz’s book in the first place. HarperCollins has a vested interest because they’re just trying to make money. Cruz just wants to fill the world with more insanity.
