Book sales figures disputed

While reading one of my favorite presidential campaign blogs, Politico, I stumbled upon a post that led to half a laugh and half a sigh.

If you have been following this story, Ted Cruz, the Republican Senator from Texas who is running for President, has a new book out.

Cruz's book, "A Time for Truth", was released on June 30th.  As most of us are aware, the NY Times posts book bestsellers lists, and this list is considered very prestigious for authors, as it often leads to more books being sold and more exposure.

Cruz, however, is not listed on the NY Times bestseller list, despite racking up impressive sales figures during the books first week since release.

So what happened here?  Dylan Byers of Politico wrote an interesting article on this controversy titled ""Amazon: 'No evidence' of bulk sales for Ted Cruz book".

In this post, Byers provides some compelling evidence backing up Cruz and his argument that the book indeed qualifies to be included in the NY Times best seller list. 

Cruz's book sold 11,854 copies in its first week -- more than 18 of the 20 titles on the Times best-seller list for the week ending July 4, according to Nielsen bookscan. On raw numbers, Cruz's book would have finished at #3 on the Times' influential list of hardcover nonfiction. However, the Times informed HarperCollins last week that Cruz's book would not be on the list.

Both Amazon and Harper Collins (publishers) both back up Cruz and agree the book qualifies, so what's the issue?

The NY Times claims that there has been suspicious activity regarding the book sales, notably that some have been purchased through what is called bulk sales.  In essence, this means that large quantities of the book were purchased by a single (or multiple parties), with the express intent to drive up sales/volume figures, and presumably up the bestseller list.

Cruz, as a fierce conservation Republican is accusing the NY Times of having a political bias.  Many Republicans accuse the NY Times of having a liberal slant, thus, being anti-Republican.

While I am not a huge Ted Cruz fan, it seems to me that the facts are on his side here, and we will have to wait and see if the NY Times revisits their position here.

The lesson in politics, as always, there is always an agenda to pursue.  Cruz, wisely, has been pushing the story in an attempt to shine light on what He perceives as the NY Times agenda and bias.  So far, the Times has been quiet. 

Stay tuned.......................