Brian Stelter’s Fox News Book ‘Network of Lies’ Has Lackluster Sales in First Week

In the weeks leading up to Thanksgiving weekend, former CNN anchor and media reporter Brian Stelter was nearly ubiquitous in the political media world, promoting his new book Network of Lies on various outlets and even hosting a tony and star-studded book party at the legendary Michael’s in New York.

Unfortunately for Stelter and his publisher, Simon & Schuster, the promotion and strong reviews have not yet turned into book sales: less than 4,000 copies were sold in its first week.

Network of Lies provides a detailed tick-tock of what went on inside Fox News as it dealt with the defamation suit brought against them by Dominion Voting Systems, which concluded with a whopping $787,500,000 settlement last Spring.

Published on November 14, Stelter’s book sold 3,807 copies in its first week, according to Nielsen BookScan. Those numbers are down 82% from his previous book about Fox (Hoax), which saw first-week sales of 20,832 in August 2020, according to BookScan.

Mediaite has learned that Stelter’s latest will not make the New York Times bestseller list. As of publishing, it is currently ranked 6,638th on Amazon’s Best Sellers list, despite his numerous appearances on cable news and several podcasts, including Mediaite.

The good news for Stelter is that he did outsell Michael Wolff’s recent anti-Fox News book, which sold 3,219 copies in its first week — suggesting that the market for books focused on Fox News is long past being satiated.

While sales of the book may not be as flattering as expected, there are other significantly positive takeaways from the weeks of Stelter’s promotional tour: notably, his seamless return to the CNN airwaves and how well-received he was, not just at his former employer, but also on MSNBC, where he has frequently appeared as a guest.

The book also earned rave reviews as well: a New York Times review said it “reads like one of Bob Woodward’s mightier books.”

And suppose Network of Lies never catches fire in book form. In that case, there is always the lucrative route of optioning the rights for a miniseries on Apple+ or some other streaming platform, which has proven to be a successful venture for the former Reliable Sources host before.