Piers Morgan has made a career out of mocking and bullying people online, but now he's getting a taste of his own medicine.
The media provocateur has become one of Twitter's latest laughing-stocks after his new book sold just 5,650 copies in the U.S. since its release a year ago, despite Morgan's supposed nearly 8 million followers on Twitter.
The furor began after a New York Times article cited Morgan as one of several examples of a figure's social media following not translating to healthy book sales—which people on Twitter seized on immediately with gleeful mockery towards Morgan.
Fascinating article about the unreliable relation between social media numbers and book sales.
And contains the joyous revelation that Piers Morgan's book failed hard in the US. https://t.co/oJqYLJUg0j
— Dr Adam Rutherford (@AdamRutherford) December 7, 2021
Morgan's book, a screed against wokeness and cancel culture called Wake Up: Why the World Has Gone Nuts, would seem tailor-made for the more conservative-leaning U.S. market, which is constantly decrying the same issues.
Instead, it face-planted hard.
Morgan, of course, immediately took to Twitter upon the Times article's release to crow about its supposedly inaccurate numbers.
There's been a lot of gleeful media coverage of my Wake Up book sales since the @nytimes falsely claimed I only sold 5650 copies.
For the record, these are the current sales numbers:
133,279 Hardback
56,922 Paperback
25,871 Ebook
29,992 Audio
6,226 Trade Paperback pic.twitter.com/8Qkh1osyZo
— Piers Morgan (@piersmorgan) December 8, 2021
Morgan tweeted his sales figures in the U.K., claiming the Times had lied about his sales figures.
He wrote:
"There's been a lot of gleeful media coverage of my Wake Up book sales since the @nytimes falsely claimed I only sold 5650 copies."
Morgan then detailed his U.K. and digital sales, which are upwards of 190,000 books.
But the Times did not misrepresent Morgan's sales.
It merely focused on its sales in the U.S., a major book market in which Morgan is a household name after years of hosting television shows on American networks—a market where his sales to reiterate, are only 5,650 books.
On Twitter, both the original story and Morgan's attempt to clap back at it left his detractors downright jubilant.
They had a field day pointing and laughing at it.
😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂Piers Morgan sold just over 5000 of his stupid book??? 😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂In a whole year?????😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂I cannot😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂
— Living On A Prayer 🙏 (@brenbrenchie) December 7, 2021
Just me, selling more books than Piers Morgan lol pic.twitter.com/zwlqcYpx36
— Joe Kassabian (@jkass99) December 7, 2021
I've sold more books than Piers Morgan lmao whew. What a time. https://t.co/5KMTwHLUy6
— Steph (@StephanieYeboah) December 7, 2021
Apparently buying it yourself doesn't count towards the final tally...
— Paul (@itspaulactually) December 7, 2021
This week I’ve learned that my month-old book has outsold both Chris Christie and Piers Morgan so that’s… something
— Britni de la Cretaz (@britnidlc) December 7, 2021
No, obvs I’m not trying to work out what my books sales would be if they had the same amount of book engagement I already have, but with Piers Morgan’s follower count. pic.twitter.com/aW5nXpR5qi
— Dr Fern Riddell (@FernRiddell) December 7, 2021
Imagine being butt hurt about someone reporting on sales figures of a book. Man baby.
— Lee (@smil3r5) December 8, 2021
Piers Morgan's book has sold just 5,650 copies in a year lol https://t.co/bbqJYpfjwK
— ryan cooper (@ryanlcooper) December 7, 2021
Social media isn’t real.
If you wanted proof, Piers Morgan wasn’t even able to sell over 6,000 books to his millions of followers.
Basically, he gets more likes on a tweet than he’s ever sold a book… and you wonder why he spends his days on here?
It is his only validation.
— HRH The Duke of Thomassin™ (@HRHDukeThomas) December 8, 2021
Piers Morgan’s book “Wake Up” is in a coma. https://t.co/R520GgyvaL
— Ian Sexton💜 #40x40 (@isexton) December 8, 2021
Turns out being purposefully offensive for Twitter clicks isn't always an effective media strategy.
Who knew?
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Saul Loeb/AFP via Getty Images