The New York Times clued people in to the fact Jr.'s book sales were rigged

[dixiegrrrrl]

When the NYT publishes it's weekly report of "best seller" book sales, there is a tiny daggar-like mark
next to Jr.'s title.
It’s known as the ‘deadly dagger.’
A rare penalty that is only called for flagrant fouls,such as when an author or someone close buys large quantities.
Such foul was noticeable in Jr.'s case because the huge number of sales soared within days of the book being out.

Never gave it a thought till now, but of course that would apply to Trump's books, espceially the ghostwritten Art of the Deal he is always bragging about.

[underpants]

1. That was created for Ann Coulter book bulk buys

Back in the early 90’s. I’m pretty sure that’s when it started.

[JHB]

2. It started in 1995, but it wasn't just for Coulter

Conservative authors, including Coulter, have long benefited from bulk-buys both as a form of promotion from their publishers and a form of subsidy from conservative groups, but the inclusion of the dagger appears to have originated from issues with celebrity and business books.

from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_New_York_Times_Best_Seller_list

Manipulation by authors and publishers.[6] Author Jacqueline Susann (Valley of the Dolls) attempted to "butter-up" Times-reporting booksellers and personally bought large quantities of her own book.[6] Author Wayne Dyer (Your Erroneous Zones) purchased thousands of copies of his own book.[6] Al Neuharth (Confessions of an S. O. B.), former head of Gannett Company, had his Gannett Foundation buy two thousand copies of his own autobiography.[6] In 1995, authors Michael Treacy and Fred Wiersema spent $200,000 to buy ten thousand copies of The Discipline of Market Leaders from dozens of bookstores.[6] Although they denied any wrongdoing, the book spent 15 weeks on the list. As a result of this scandal the Times began placing a dagger symbol next to any title for which bookstores reported bulk orders.[6] However daggers do not always appear; for example Tony Hsieh's Delivering Happiness was known to have been manipulated with bulk orders but didn't have a dagger.[18] Companies that contract with authors to manipulate the bestseller list through "bestseller campaigns" include ResultSource.[19]

[underpants]

3. Okay

Thanks. I could have sword it was for Coulter

[JHB]

7. Her first book was published in 1998

It was likely in relation to her that you first found out about the daggers for bulk-buys, but they'd already started doing it before she started writing her book-length screeds.

[RockRaven]

4. It's common in RW circles to buy massive quantities of newly published titles with organizational

money (PACs in the case of politics, churches in the case of religion) with the claim that they are giving the books away at events or for promotional purposes. These bulk purchases are timed to manipulate the best-seller-list algorithms, and the NYT and others finally got wise to this game a while back and started with that notation.

It also serves as a very inefficient but apparently legal way enrich an individual from the coffers of a non-profit under their control (churches bulk buy the pastor's new book, PACs bulk buy the candidate's new book).

[Archae]

5. Scientologists were notrious for doing this.

That's in addition to the high-pressure TV and print ads for the "Dianetics" books.

[DeminPennswoods]

6. Seems to happen frequently with books by conservative authors

Buying in bulk, then distributing them for free and other tactics.