The People's Princess -- and Publishing's Too
Judy Quinn -- 9/15/97
More books on Diana get developed; The Royals now hits this week
In the four days after Labor Day, publishers faced the challenge of racing to reprint and update books they already had that related to Princess Diana, with many telling PW that they were cautious about committing to new titles.
What a difference a few days make! No doubt impressed by the public reaction to the princess's tragic death -- as well as the overwhelming demand for what was a limited inventory of Diana-related books, publishers started moving on new titles. By September 5, Harmony executive editor Shaye Areheart had committed a rumored $250,000 advance to acquire Donald Spoto's Diana: The Last Year, a hardcover it intends to rush out with a 150,000-copy first printing by November. Also on September 5, Warner Books officials decided to push up the planned September 23 laydown of Kitty Kelley's The Royals so that the book's official pub date is now Wednesday, September 17. NBC's Dateline moved up its first-look exclusive two-parter on the book from September 23-24 to September 15-16.
The planned first serial of the book in People, rumored to be highlighting the royals' troubled marriages, was discarded soon after Diana's death, said People director of public affairs Susan Ollinick. "We felt it wouldn't be appropriate," she said. Kelley's publicist Lynn Goldberg told PW that the magazine now plans to do an interview with Kelley in the issue that g s on sale Sept. 19. People is also updating and reissuing last summer's hard/soft title The Diana Years to create a new 160-page, $24.95 hardcover to be shipped October 27; Time Inc. Home Entertainment already has orders in excess of 250,000 copies.
There are also other new Diana biography proposals circulating, including ones from celebrity biographers George Mair and James Spada, but no deals on these are as yet confirmed. What d s appear to be more of a publishing race is for release of Diana pictorial books. The already announced SMP reissue of its 1995 title Diana: Her Life in Photographs, to be updated and renamed Diana, Princess of Wales: A Tribute in Photographs, a 160-page, $25 hardcover, is expected in mid-October with a 200,000 first printing. SMP senior editor Hope Dellon told PW that the house plans to donate a portion of proceeds to the now established charity fund in the Princess's name and will note that on the jacket.
But Running Press will take the early lead with its Sept. 24 publication of Diana: A Tribute to the People's Princess, a completely new book it acquired from U.K. packager Quadrillion, which worked round the clock to complete the book. Running Press publicity chief Amy Iannarella told PW that the house had at press time set a first printing of 450,000 copies for the $12.98, 144-page book -- all based on actual orders that it started taking as of Sept. 3. Here, too, portions of the proceeds will be given to the Diana fund.Following close behind was Random Value, whose pictorial book, Diana: A Tribute, is scheduled to come out early October. The $9.99, 96-page hardcover is an extensive update of an earlier British title.
Diana: A Tribute is also the title of an upcoming $16.99 double-cassette 2-hour audio from BDD Audio, a project being developed by the BBC that will feature key audio excerpts from Diana's life. BDD Audio plans an October release.
Puffin Books is updating its Diana: Twentieth-Century Princess, originally part of its Women of Our Time series for ages 7-11, with a new cover and a revised final chapter. The house expects to release the $4.99 paperback within two weeks with a conservative 12,000 first printing, the first publisher to show just-in-time inventory caution. Random House Children's Publishing has a $4.99 instant YA book, Diana: Queen of Hearts, and plans a Sept. 17 publication and a 150,000 first printing; half of the proceeds will be donated to the Pediatric AIDS Foundation.
So what's next? Agent Nancy Love was shopping a a compilation of letters drawn from mourning crowds who watched the funeral procession. Lady Colin Campbell, who has written two books on Diana that were published here by SMP, was in town to talk about a possible update. Something on Diana's lover Dodi Al-Fayed and/or his powerful family is being developed by agents. Daily Mail correspondent Richard Kay, a confidant and purported lover of Diana's, is reportedly talking about doing a book. Publishers are also talking the "dream books" -- by Earl Spencer, Diana's brother, and Trevor Rees Jones, the bodyguard who survived the crash. And rumor has it that Random House chief Harold Evans might be developing a Diana book. And while everyone wonders about the timing of reissues and new books, and which books might make bestseller lists, the impact of Diana's death on publishing continues to be astounding. At press time Seven Hills Distributors reported to PW that it has just sold out of its 5000 first printing of February 1997 British import title Dicing with Di: The Amazing Adventures of Britain's Royal Chasers in the last few weeks, thanks to the constant and continuing media presence of its photographer authors, Mark Saunders and Glenn Harvey and, an extra boost, the book cover being featured on the front page of the New York Times on September 10. The distributor is getting an emergency order of 2000 copies from Britain and will get 20,000 copies of a planned reprint. It's also seeing a sales surge on three other Di-related Blake titles. "It's been a once in a lifetime shot for us," said Seven Hills publicist Greg Hatfield.
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