English Translation
His novel sold well.
This verb to my mind emphasises the absurdity of some German reflexive verb constuctions. If I did not include “sich” a German listner would be confused as to what the book was selling well! Really?
Yes 
Long answer:
Such reflexive usages are closer in meaning to something similar to a passive, i.e. “was sellable”. It is almost the same as “Das Buch ließ sich gut verkaufen.”
If you leave out the “sich”, it does indeed sound like an active verb that is missing an object.
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