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Bestsellers

Behind the Bestsellers
Daisy Maryles -- 2/7/00

A Pearl of a Girl
The folks at Dutton are thrilled by the reception with which critics and customers are greeting its new novel Girl with a Pearl Earring, which debuts at #15 on PW's fiction list. Reviews have been stellar, including a starred PW sendoff that noted that Tracy Chevalier's work, based on the Dutch artist Vermeer and his famous painting (known as the "Dutch Mona Lisa"), is a "completely absorbing story with enough historical authenticity and artistic intuition to mark Chevalier as a talented newcomer to the literary scene." The author's first novel, The Virgin Blue, was chosen by London bookseller W.H. Smith for its 1997 Fresh Talent promotion. Dutton launched this Girl with a 17,500-copy first printing and with lots of handselling -- especially by independent booksellers -- the book is now up to 52,500 copies after five weeks in the stores; it's #5 on the ABA's Book Sense Bestseller List. In San Francisco, Joan Vigliotta at Booksmith noted that the book "inspired me to reexamine this superb artist's work and marvel anew at his astonishing vision." In Steamboat Springs, Colo., Off the Beaten Path bookstore manager Tash Heath said the book "is one of the most eloquently written novels I have read in a long time." Dutton is lining up lots of interviews from London and so far has NPR and the Washington Post scheduled on this side of the pond.

A Millionaire's Dream
After about three years on the national charts with The Millionaire Next Door in hardcover and paperback, Andrews McMeel is gearing up for big numbers for the follow-up book by Thomas J. Stanley, The Millionaire Mind. A first printing of 500,000 copies and a marketing budget of $400,000 will launch the book, which has been embarg d until today. With its corporate connection to UPS, the largest independent newspaper syndicate in the U.S., the publisher has been busy selling advance serial rights through UPS reps. More than 30 newspapers are running an advance serial on pub date or a day earlier. Back in fall 1997, the publisher launched the first Millionaire book with a modest 20,000 first printing and went on to sell more than one million copies in hardcover. Quite understandably, they're hoping that history repeats itself.

Hurricane Strength
Houghton Mifflin isn't the only publisher with a successful title about Rubin "Hurricane" Carter (see last week's Behind the Bestsellers); St. Martin's/Griffin has a title that's storming the stores as well. Lazarus and the Hurricane by Sam Chaiton and Terry Swinton was first published in 1991 by Penguin Books Canada Limited, when it was hailed as "the feel-good book of the year" and "a double-fisted tale of liberation" -- and is still on several Canadian bestseller lists. The book's personal take on Carter's remarkable story centers on Lazarus Martin, an illiterate Brooklyn teenager who in 1979 met Canadian business partners Chaiton and Swinton and -- with his parents' permission -- was taken back to Toronto to improve upon his education. As the boy began to bolster his learning skills, he came across a copy of Carter's autobiography, The 16th Round, and was prompted to get in touch with the wrongfully imprisoned boxer. Thus began a friendship that spurred Chaiton, Swinton and several of their friends to work for eight years to help Carter overturn his conviction. The authors, said St. Martin's publicity manager J Rinaldi, have toured New York, Chicago and Washington, D.C., "to great success and round-the-clock media interviews." Print coverage, ranging from Entertainment Weekly to the New York Times to People, has been extensive, and Chaiton and Swinton have made numerous national and local TV appearances and done several Internet chats. Their book, Rinaldi said, has achieved "unparalleled success in our Griffin trade paperback line." In just under six weeks, the in-print total has grown from a 25,000-copy first printing to more than 65,000.

With reporting by Dick Donahue.
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