Gov. Gavin Newsom’s status as bestselling author is officially in doubt.
Revelations his 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 email offered free copies of the tome to 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 February note pleading with supporters to help him land on the New York Times bestseller list.
Filings from Newsom’s PAC, Campaign for Democracy, show two payments in January totaling $1.6 million to Porchlight Book Company, marked “books at cost.”
Campaign records show an additional $58,000 in merchandise and shipping costs to 18 bookstores nationwide for the promotional blitz for his book, when Newsom hawked the book at rented venues in Atlanta, New York City, and Boston and other cities.
The New York Times explains on its website that daggers indicate “institutional, special interest, group of bulk purchases” based on “standards for inclusion that encompass proprietary vetting and audit protocols, corroborative reporting and other statistical determinations.”
Newsom’s political spokesperson, Nathan Click, hailed the sales tactic as a success to the New York Times, saying it generated a hefty fundraising haul and served to “deepen the relationship” with supporters.
Newsom is not the only politician accused of using campaign funds to inflate book sales.
Texas Sen. Ted Cruz was criticized for using $122,000 in campaign funds to bulk-order copies of his book, “A Time for Truth,” in 2015 — leading the New York Times to temporarily strike the tome from its bestseller list.
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’ memoir, “The Courage to Be Free” was also slapped with an asterisk after the New York Times found that bulk buys contributed to its popularity.
