‘Eleven paperbacks and five bound copies have been sold in our stores since their publication’, tweets Erik Hoekstra of the Broekhuis bookshop in Twente. ‘Two more paperbacks in our webshop. I hear similar voices from fellow booksellers.’ Moreover, the book is now sold out in Baudet’s own webshop. Several theories are now circulating on social media about how he would manipulate the list. Is that right? The short answer is no, says the spokesperson for the CPNB, the Stichting Collectieve Propaganda of the Dutch Book. “There is no indication that fraud has been committed. Baudet did use some clever tricks.’
The CPNB Foundation compiles De Bestseller 60 based on the figures of points of sale that are checked by market bureau GFK. Amsterdam Books, Baudet’s publisher and webshop, is affiliated with GFK. “Then you have to pass a serious stress test,” says the spokesperson. ‘The data is checked weekly.’
The most important and widely known method that Baudet has used is: many books are sold through a pre-order promotion. This means that you can already reserve the book in advance and have it delivered after publication.
“In recent years, we have seen it happen again and again that publishers come to number 1 with a book,” says the spokesman for the CPNB. ‘Look at the books about the Meilandjes. Or take Ruud ten Wolde, who recently entered first place posthumously with his book ill happy† Booksellers I spoke to had never heard of him, but he has such a large following online that thousands have pre-ordered his book. The same goes of course for Baudet.’
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De Correspondent has also had books in the top regions of the top list more often, such as The second by Lynn Berger and thank you book by Ernst-Jan Pfauth. “They have a book membership where members automatically receive the new books,” says the spokesperson. ‘That’s all right. As long as they are really sold copies.’
The remarkable thing, according to the CPNB, is that this occurs so often, but that no one has ever questioned it until now. ‘Apparently people don’t trust Baudet. Maybe they have their reasons for that, but in this case it went really well.’
Books that reach the top of the list via a pre-order promotion, regularly come out the same way. Bee The Corona deception that’s not happening yet. Within two weeks, 15 thousand copies were sold, the publisher says. Baudet eagerly takes advantage of the fuss that has arisen by saying that the book world is ‘in a panic’ because of his success. Presumably, all that commotion also boosted sales in the second week.
The fact that the book is still number one after three weeks has a less exciting explanation. “Bare arms, trade dead, is a famous statement in the profession,” says the spokesman. ‘Due to the nice weather, few books are being sold this week. Then you also have to sell fewer copies to keep the first place.’