Marketing masterclass by Grass.

[Ya Sam]

With the controversy surrounding Günter Grass's admission that he served 
with the Waffen SS showing no sign of abating amid news that his 
confessional memoir is flying off the shelves, the writer has defended 
himself in an interview broadcast last night on German television.

[....]

The German public is certainly listening. The initial print run of 150,000 
copies was released earlier this week and "will be sold out this afternoon", 
said the Steidl spokeswoman Claudia Glenewinkel. A second printing of 
100,000 is already underway.

Ms Glenewinkel rejected suggestions that the furore had led to increased 
sales, pointing out that even before the storm broke bookshops had ordered 
60,000 copies, and that his last novel, Crabwalk, sold 400,000 copies in 
just four weeks.

"It is selling very, very quickly," she said, "but we weren't surprised.

http://books.guardian.co.uk/news/articles/0,,1853346,00.html

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