Sales of Thélyson Orélien's novel increase in France despite the controversy

Curiosity effect? Consequence of its strong media coverage? Sales of the novel by Canadian-Haitian writer Thélyson Orélien continued to increase in France after the start of the controversy over a possible use of artificial intelligence by its author, according to data published Thursday by Livres Hebdo.

The novel It Was That or To Die, published by Grasset, saw its physical sales reach 18,254 copies between September 21 and 27 compared to 12,506 the previous week, according to the NielsenIQ BookData/Livres Hebdo bestseller list.

The book thus takes first place in the novel category, ahead of those by Agnès Martin-Lugand and Marc Levy, recently released. It ranks 4th in overall sales, behind Sarah Knafo's essay, The Heist of the Century (Fayard), in the lead for the fourth consecutive week with 210,000 copies sold since its release, and two mangas.

It Was That or Die has sold approximately 65,000 copies since its release on August 19, a particularly high figure for a first novel written by a previously unknown foreign writer. “The book was on the rise, with sales increasing from week to week, so it is difficult to assess the impact of the affair,” underlines a publishing manager on condition of anonymity.

Defended by numerous booksellers, the novel won the Fnac prize on September 21, a few hours before Thélyson Orélien was accused of having massively used generative artificial intelligence to write it. What the 38-year-old author denied. At the same time, he was targeted by accusations of numerous plagiarism linked to texts published in Canada, where he has lived since 2010.