Getting real sales numbers on books is almost impossible. “At a trial underway in Los Angeles pitting media mogul Philip Anschutz against author Clive Cussler. Anschutz says he bought the film rights to one of Cussler’s books because he was told it had sold 100 million copies worldwide. Because of those staggering — and bogus — figures, Anschutz maintains, he paid $10 million for the film rights. The resulting film, the 2005 ‘Sahara,’ did poorly at the box office.”