REMEMBERING JFK JR.

In the wake of the tragic death of John F. Kennedy Jr., it seems likely that a number of books about him and his celebrated family will begin appearing -- or reappearing -- on the national charts. The first title being reported by booksellers is John F. Kennedy Jr: A Life in the Spotlightby Michael Druitt. Andrews McMeel published the trade paperback in December 1996; there are 50,000 copies in print. A new commemorative edition, which begins shipping today with a 200,000-copy printing, will feature a new front-cover banner along with a new chapter and new photos. AM co-director of publicity Eden Thorne noted that the publisher is offering the book to the industry at a specially discounted price -- $3 per copy (retail price is $14.95).

Also being reported by some booksellers is John F. Kennedy'sProfiles in Courage. Originally published in 1956 as a Harper & Brothers hardcover, the work was reissued in 1964 in a commemorative edition with a foreword by Robert Kennedy. In 1988, another commemorative edition was published, observing the 25th anniversary of JFK's death; that edition currently has 400,000 copies in print. The publisher has plans -- developed before JFK Jr.'s death -- to reissue Profiles next February as a HarperPerennial Classic.

GETTING ONTO THE GREEN

For several weeks now, Dave Pelz'sShort Game Bible by Dave Pelz with James A. Frank has been hovering below the top 15 nonfiction hardcovers. Published by Broadway Books in May with a 34,000-copy print run, the book -- which offers advice for pros and duffers -- now has 115,000 copies in print after nine trips to press. Broadway credits its success to a three-fold promotional strategy. First serial appeared in Golf magazine's July issue; a teaser appeared in June in the form of an article by Pelz on the U.S. Open. He also served as commentator for the Open on the Golf Channel's Golf Talk Live. On Today, Pelz showed Matt Lauer and Katie Couric how to hit out of a sandtrap -- which the show had specially built in Rockefeller Plaza. A key component of the marketing strategy was a consumer contest to win tuition to one of Pelz's courses.

SOUL-FULL SUCCESS

Like many bestselling authors, Gary Zukav is forever grateful to -- you guessed it -- Oprah. His book, The Seat of the Soul, was published in paperback by Fireside in 1990. When Oprah began her Remembering Your Spirit segments last fall, she found Zukav's book to be a perfect introduction to the segments. Originally, the author was slated to do one seven-minute segment, but so much good material was shot that Oprah ran five segments through December. At that time, Seat was in its 16th printing with 387,500 copies. Then Winfrey featured Zukav for an hour on December 24; the book shot to the top of the charts. A few months later, on April 23, Zukav was back on the show, this time with a group of people who claimed their lives had been changed because of his book. Oprah noted then that if she were on a desert island, the book she'd want with her -- after the Bible -- would be The Seat of the Soul. Once again, the book went to the top of the charts. On July 13, Zukav went back on the show for a full hour; this time Oprah introduced him as her favorite author and called Seat her favorite book. Care to guess what happened on the charts? Currently, the Fireside bestseller is in its 41st printing with a total of 1,512,000 copies in print.

RIGHT ON TARGET

Once again Catherine Coulter demonstrates her popularity, as her latest work, The Target, climbs our mass market list from its #14 position last week to today's sixth slot. Published by Jove on August 1, the contemporary suspense yarn has 1,125,000 copies in print after two printings. Last Thursday, Coulter was the keynote luncheon speaker at the Romance Writers of America convention in Chicago.

With reporting by Dick Donahue