'Selfish' Wasn't A Total Flop, Apparently

Selfish is a lot more popular than you think, at least according to the book's publisher. Rizzoli Executive Director of Publicity Pam Sommers reports that Kim Kardashian's book of selfies has sold about 125,000 copies. Initially, it seemed that Kardashian's book was a commercial flop: Nielsen Bookscan reported that Selfish had only sold 32,000 copies so far.

That number may seem high to some, but Kardashian has 41.5 million Instagram followers, so hypothetically, the number should be a lot higher, right? The critical response to Selfish hasn't been stellar either: Laura Bennet of The Slate Book Review wasn't a fan, saying that "the words it does contain are so aggressively repetitive that they feel like a true feat of editorial indifference". Ouch. And that's not to mention the slew of sarcastic and negative Amazon customer reviews, which could probably be compiled into a book of their own.

But apparently, the report that only 32,000 copies sold isn't completely correct. According to Pam Sommers, "The Bookscan number of 30K floating around is not inaccurate but it represents a very small segment of our sales overall, which are very strong in non-bookstore specialty retailers, and international sales, neither of which report to Bookscan. The book is, in fact, a significant success story as a benchmark of the phenomenon of self-portrait in the digital age."

Not only has Selfish sold closer to 125,000 copies, it's also already in its fourth printing, which doesn't sound so shabby. Evidently, most people just aren't buying it in bookstores ... or, judging from the consumer comments, on Amazon.

We're guessing Kim K isn't fazed, either way.

Images: Giphy