When a Publisher Talks about Sales . . .

Related to my comment yesterday that publishers love to exaggerate sales figures, comes this little nugget about Booker Prize winner Anne Enright:

The latest British figures from Nielsen BookScan show that, since it was published in May, only 3,306 copies have been sold in hardback, with a further 381 in paperback. Enright’s publisher said that the actual figure was 35,000, including sales in Europe.

Huh. I know Nielsen BookScan is only 70% accurate, but this seems ridiculous. Maybe they did sell 30,000 copies through the Jonathan Cape website—who am I to say they’re exaggerating?