Matt Gaetz’s book “Firebrand: Dispatches from the Front Lines of the MAGA Revolution”, which hit shelves in September 2020 and described as a “scathingly funny account of his time in the Washington swamp, Florida firebrand Matt Gaetz, one of President Trump’s key supporters in Congress, gleefully skewers the enemies of the MAGA revolution and lays out his own vision for the future of the populist movement” on its jacket, sold an abysmal 2,200 to roughly 6,000 copies in its first 3 months, per an estimate by the Daily Beast’s Roger Sollenberger.
Gaetz initially failed to report this income in his annual income disclosure statement, but following an inquiry to his office by the Daily Beast, the sex trafficker filed an amendment which reported $25,000 in income from the book’s sales. This figure, coupled with the publishing agreement that netted Gaetz 60% royalties on sales, less a 30% cut of that royalty income to his agent (whom Sollenberger reports also DJed Gaetz’s recent wedding), allowed Sollenberger to arrive at approximately $59,500 in retail sales between the pre-order launch in August and December 31st, 2020. Ranging between $27 on the high end for a hardcover copy and $10 for a fire sale price of “Firebrand” this works out to at most about 6,000 copies and as low as 2,200 copies. Sollenberger also estimates the book’s publisher got less than $15,000 for their efforts. Inspiring!