Speaking to TimesLIVE, Penguin Random House's Ian Dennewill said De Ruyter’s book was the best seller in South Africa for two weeks in a row.
In the first week, a total of 16,444 copies were sold and 8,684 were sold in the second week. A sticker on the book at Exclusive Books claimed over 50,000 copies have been sold.
“It is extremely rare for a book to sell so well in South Africa,” said Dennewill.
“The excellent sales are continuing and bookstores already placed large reorders in the first week of publication, which resulted in us being out of stock for a short period of time. We were, fortunately, able to arrange delivery of the third print run very quickly and will continue to monitor stock levels closely.”
Dennewill said Penguin Random House is very proud of the book's success.
“This is largely due to De Ruyter, a brave whistle-blower who refused to ignore blatant exploitation and crime. As a publisher, we felt that South Africans have a right to know how our country and Eskom are being run, and the successful sales indicate the public is definitely interested in books that shed light on the current state of our country.”
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De Ruyter to reimburse Pretoria bookstore for stolen copies of his R340 tell-all book
Image: REUTERS/Sumaya Hisham
Former Eskom CEO Andre de Ruyter will reimburse a Pretoria bookstore for stolen copies of his tell-all book.
Leonie van Rensburg, the owner of Graffiti Books, reported that 15 copies of De Ruyter’s book Truth to Power: My Three Years Inside Eskom were stolen during a break-in last week.
Speaking on Jacaranda FM, Van Rensburg said the robbery resulted in a loss of more than R5,000 for the store. The book retails for R340.
“I got a phone call yesterday informing me that Andre de Ruyter graciously decided that he will reimburse the store with 15 copies of his book to make up for the loss,” said Van Rensburg.
“When something like this happens to you, you are down in the dumps and know that there is nothing you can do about it, but then the positive ring to it is that there are still very good people out there and we really thank Mr de Ruyter for his generosity.”
De Ruyter’s book more popular than 'The President's Keepers' — Here's how many copies it sold in its first week
Speaking to TimesLIVE, Penguin Random House's Ian Dennewill said De Ruyter’s book was the best seller in South Africa for two weeks in a row.
In the first week, a total of 16,444 copies were sold and 8,684 were sold in the second week. A sticker on the book at Exclusive Books claimed over 50,000 copies have been sold.
“It is extremely rare for a book to sell so well in South Africa,” said Dennewill.
“The excellent sales are continuing and bookstores already placed large reorders in the first week of publication, which resulted in us being out of stock for a short period of time. We were, fortunately, able to arrange delivery of the third print run very quickly and will continue to monitor stock levels closely.”
Dennewill said Penguin Random House is very proud of the book's success.
“This is largely due to De Ruyter, a brave whistle-blower who refused to ignore blatant exploitation and crime. As a publisher, we felt that South Africans have a right to know how our country and Eskom are being run, and the successful sales indicate the public is definitely interested in books that shed light on the current state of our country.”
Support independent journalism by subscribing to the Sunday Times. Just R20 for the first month.
READ MORE:
Allegations of sabotage by executive taken seriously, says Eskom
WATCH | Police top brass appears before Scopa on De Ruyter's Eskom corruption allegations
PALI LEHOHLA | So much self-praise, so little fanfare for Eskom at the big 100
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