Sales of the whistleblowing memoir Careless People have surged by more than 300% in the UK following its author's 'silenced' appearance at the Hay festival, after legal action by Meta, the subject of the book.
Sarah Wynn-Williams, who served as director of global public policy at Facebook from 2011 to 2017, sat on stage but did not speak during her hour-long appearance on 31 May, on the advice of her lawyer. She appeared alongside journalist Carole Cadwalladr and academic Tim Wu.
The sales boost – 304.5% week-on-week – has propelled the book, published last March, to the number one spot in the paperback nonfiction chart. Pan Macmillan said more than 140,000 copies have been sold across all formats in the UK since publication.
Meta obtained an order blocking Wynn-Williams from promoting her book, which accuses the company of toxic internal culture and manipulative political influence. Meta has described the book as 'a mix of out-of-date and previously reported claims about the company and false accusations about our executives'.
In March, Meta filed a sanctions motion claiming Wynn-Williams violates the order any time she appears where her book is available for sale. A letter from her lawyers to the Hay festival on 30 May requested that the festival not sell Careless People at or through any festival bookshop or online link.
Mike Harpley, Wynn-Williams' editor and nonfiction publisher at Pan Macmillan, said: 'Her courageous, silent appearance at Hay festival has clearly resonated with a huge number of people, who want to read her story and make up their own minds.' He added that the publisher is grateful to the public 'for refusing to accept what amounts to corporate censorship'.
