Kim Kardashian might have overestimated the appeal of her own face.

According to Radar Online, her highly publicized book of selfies Selfish was a major flop, only selling around 32,000 copies since its May 5 release date.

But according to Pam Sommers, the Executive Director of Publicity at Rizzoli, the book was actually successful — just not at bookstores. She said (via US Weekly), "The Bookscan number of 30K floating around is not inaccurate but it represents a very small segment of our sales overall, which are very strong in non-bookstore specialty retailers, and international sales, neither of which report to Bookscan. The book is, in fact, a significant success story as a benchmark of the phenomenon of self-portrait in the digital age."

Sommers says the book has actually sold closer to 125,000 copies, a number significantly greater than Radar Online's report. Granted, that figure seems small when you consider that Kim's number of Instagram followers (aka those most interested in staring at her face multiple times per day) falls somewhere in the 40 million range.

And maybe that's the problem. No matter how much of a self-aware tribute to her own narcissism Selfish may be, Kim had to know it'd be tough to peddle this particular product when its content is already available in abundance, for free, everywhere you turn. Example: Kim posted 12 selfies in the past 48 hours alone on Instagram.

Of course, if Kim Kardashian absolutely had to release a book (and, well, she didn’t) it only makes sense that she’d compile a mess of photos of herself. She knows how to market her brand, and realizes that her appeal remains largely in her appearance.

Besides, Selfish did (unsurprisingly) sell more copies than that ghost-written young adult disaster of a novel that Kendall and Kylie tried to shill out to their fans. Rebels: City of Indra has reportedly sold a scant 13,000 copies since its June 3, 2014 release.

Did you buy Selfish? If so, why? Will you forever claim it as an ironic purchase you still spent $20 on? Or are you low-key planning on buying the book's next edition, so long as it has those selfies Kim took of herself in the car when Khloe was headed to jail?

Kim Kardashian
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