Josh Hawley’s Controversial Book Becomes A Bestseller—With Help From His ‘Big Tech’ Foes And Bulk Buys - Forbes

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Topline

Missouri Sen. Josh Hawley’s The Tyranny of Big Tech sold 20,900 print books in its first week, according to NPD BookScan data provided to Forbes, landing on bestseller lists after his first publisher Simon & Schuster dumped the book over his objections to the presidential election results—and with the help of the GOP book-buying machine and one of the senator’s favorite targets: Amazon.

Key Facts

Hawley’s book has so far landed in the 11th spot on the New York Times bestseller list for combined print and e-book nonfiction and in the 13th spot for hardcover nonfiction, as well as at No. 6 on the Wall Street Journal’s bestseller list for hardcover nonfiction.

The book also ranks as the 15th most sold nonfiction book of the week of May 9 on Amazon, which the book describes as part of a “techno-oligarchy” that serves as “the gravest threat to American liberty in decades.”

Hawley was widely criticized for sharing a link to purchase the book on Amazon—on Twitter and via an iPhone, incorporating two other tech giants—but his office defended his actions, telling Fox News Amazon is a “monopoly platform” and those critical of it “should support Josh’s plans to break up Big Tech.”

The Times’ bestseller list listed Hawley’s book with a dagger symbol, which the publication uses to denote books that made the list with the help of bulk purchases or other potentially “suspicious” methods.

Hawley’s book, like a number of his GOP colleagues before him, has benefitted from a large purchase by a Republican donor group: So far, the Federal Election Commission data shows the Senate Conservatives Fund paid Hawley’s publisher Regnery Publishing $64,750 in February for “donor books” supporting Hawley.

The $64,750 payment likely would have bought at least 2,100 copies of the book based on the hardcover’s $29.99 list price—or nearly 10% of Hawley’s total sales—though it’s unclear if that or other GOP-affiliated bulk orders were used on the book’s first week on the market.

Big Number

More than $1 million. That’s how much the Republican National Committee and three other GOP-affiliated groups—the Senate Conservatives Fund, National Republican Senatorial Committee and National Republican Congressional Committee—spent on bulk purchases of books by GOP candidates during the 2020 election cycle, according to FEC data reviewed by the Washington Post. In addition to Hawley, other Republicans who have benefited from the practice include Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), Donald Trump Jr., Rep. Dan Crenshaw (R-Texas), Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) and Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas), who has faced accusations that his campaign’s practice of bulk buying and promoting his recent book violated ethics rules.

Key Background

Hawley and his book have been a target of controversy after the Missouri senator led an effort to challenge state electoral votes when they were counted by Congress, which critics contend helped inspire the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol building. Simon & Schuster canceled Hawley’s book deal on Jan. 7, citing the senator’s “role in what became a dangerous threat to our democracy and freedom.” The book soon found a new home at conservative stalwart Regnery Publishingthat has previously put out books by figures on the right like Cruz and Ann Coulter. Hawleydecried Simon & Schuster as a “woke mob” behaving in an “Orwellian” fashion with a “direct assault on the First Amendment.” While Hawley faced criticism from the left — and some on the right — he has continued to court the base conservative voter that supported President Trump, and he raised a massive $3 million in campaign donations in the first quarter of 2021.

Surprising Fact

Book advances and royalties are exempt from the limit on outside money members of Congress are allowed to earn each year beyond their salaries, which is set at $29,595. “You can see why writing books is one of the favorite ways for members to earn outside income,” attorney Brett Kappel, who specializes in federal election regulations, told the Post.