Paula Deen sees jump in book sales

She's lost a few deals but the Southern icon could recover

Published July 5, 2013 2:52PM (EDT)

Paula Deen became an object of ridicule for her racial insensitivity and weird apologies, but her public has her back. While the fallout could cost her up to $12.5 million, according to Publisher's Weekly her book sales have gone through the roof, and that could soften her landing:

Paula Deen may be on the outs with her publisher, but the break, it turns out, hasn't been all bad for business. After word broke late last week that Random House was canceling its October-scheduled book by the celebrity chef, Paula Deen’s New Testament, interest rose in Deen's backlist. According to sales figures from Nielsen BookScan, Deen sold a little over 4,000 books in the week ending June 30, up from just over 500 the week before...

While the fate of Deen's canceled Random House book,Paual Deen's New Testament, is still in limbo--it hit #1 on Amazon, thanks to pre-orders (which Nielsen does not capture), after Random House said it was dropping it--her strong backlist sales may speed up the process of finding a new publisher. Deen's literary agent told PW, late last week, that she was confident another house would pick up the title, but did not offer any specifics.


By Alex Halperin

Alex Halperin is news editor at Salon. You can follow him on Twitter @alexhalperin.

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Books Cookbooks Paula Deen Race Writers And Writing