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Somizi's book not 'the highest selling autobiography ever'

Picture credit: Instagram.
Picture credit: Instagram.

Exclusive Books has dismissed a claim made by Somizi Mhlongo that his memoir‚ Dominoes: Unbreakable Spirit was the highest-selling autobiography ever sold by the retailer.

“So we have just been told that my book is the highest-selling autobiography in the country ever at Exclusive Books. I wanna break the African record which was set by Harry Potter. Am I being too ambitious? No. I don’t think so‚ because I have God and you‚” Somizi told fans on Instagram.

Exclusive Books general manager Ben Willliams told TshisaLIVE that although Somizi’s book was a massive hit with audiences‚ it was “below the numbers needed to break the record” for highest-selling biography ever.

“We never discuss sales with the media or even the authors so we did not notify him that his book was the highest-selling autobiography. His book did extremely well but the highest-selling autobiography was Nelson Mandela’s Long Walk to Freedom and it (Somizi’s book) was below the numbers needed to break that record‚” Ben explained.

Despite this‚ Ben said that Somizi’s book was a “best-seller” and continues to rake in the sales‚ two and a half months after its release.

“It was the best-selling book across all genres for at least two weeks after its release and even now it is still in the top three most popular titles sold by the company‚” Ben said.

Somizi’s book currently sits behind Wilbur Smith’s The Tiger’s Prey and Trevor Noah’s autobiography Born a Crime on the list.

TshisaLIVE requested comment from Somizi’s management‚ but they did not respond by the time of publishing.

Somizi recently had to postpone the American launch of his memoir‚ claiming that his hectic schedule did not allow him to fly to New York for the release.

“Somizi did not have enough time. He flew straight to LA to attend the MTV Video Music Awards and could not fly to New York. We hope to return soon to have the launch‚” Somizi’s manager Thato Matuka told TshisaLIVE.