Paula Deen Cookbook Sales Soar Amid Racism Row

Pre-sales of Paula Deen's forthcoming cookbook have surged despite the growing fallout from revelations she used a racial slur in the past.

The celebrity chef's latest book, Paula Deen's New Testament, has reached the top of the Amazon sales chart, passing bestsellers by Dan Brown, Stephen King and Games Of Thrones writer George R R Martin.

The book, which is scheduled for release in October, ranked in the 1,500s on Monday, but by Wednesday it was at number 18.

Another Deen book, Paula Deen's Southern Cooking Bible, was at number 13, while several other Deen books were out of stock.

But amid the sales spike, Deen has been dropped by Wal-Mart , Target, the Food Network and others.

Her name has also been stripped from four buffet restaurants.

The controversy surrounding Deen erupted last week when a deposition was released in transcript form in which she was asked if she had used the "N-word," and responded "Yes, of course".

The lawsuit, brought by an ex-employee, accuses Deen of using the slur when planning her brother's 2007 wedding, saying she wanted black waiters in white coats, shorts and bow ties for a "Southern plantation-style wedding".

Deen said she did not recall using the word "plantation" when planning the wedding and denied using the N-word to describe waiters.

During an appearance on the Today programme, a tearful Deen said: "The day I used that word, it was a world ago. It was 30 years ago."

The show's host Matt Lauer asked: "Are you a racist?" She replied: "No, I am not."

She said she remembered using it when retelling a story about when she was held at gunpoint by a black robber while working in a bank in Georgia in the 1980s.

Deen has published more than a dozen cookbooks, opened two restaurants, launched product lines and hosted several television shows.