GEORGE TAKES THE LEAD
It looks like Monica's Story will get only one week in the top slot on the bestseller charts; this week's race was won, as we predicted last week, by George Stephanopoulos with All Too Human. His book not only unseated Monica's but also enjoyed first-week billings 33% ahead of the Andrew Morton tell-all. Sales at the three national chains -- Barnes &Noble, Borders and Waldenbooks -- totaled about 60,000 during the first four days on sale, compared with about 45,000 for Monica's Story; first-week sales at the independents for Stephanopoulos's books were also stronger. Little, Brown went back to press for an additional 200,000 copies, bringing the in-print total to 600,000. The publisher reports that turnout for his publicity events have been terrific; for instance, in Dallas, the third city on his tour, Stephanopoulos signed about 1200 copies at Borders. He will be touring all of April and into May.

Yet a third book on the Clinton White House and all its scandals will be hitting the store's early next week: Uncovering Clinton by Michael Isikoff, the Newsweek reporter who is credited with breaking the Paula Jones, Kathleen Willey and Monica Lewinsky stories. Crown's first printing is 110,000 copies, but based on orders, it expects to be hitting the reprint button real soon. Isikoff's national media blitz will begin April 7 and confirmed appearances include Dateline NBC, Today, Larry King, Charlie Rose, Meet the Press, Crossfire and Politically Incorrect. So, at this point, All Too Human could have a bit more time in the lead spot. But read on....

NIPPING AT GEORGE'S HEELS
Perhaps All Too Human has only one more week remaining in the #1 slot. Warner is planning a one-day national laydown, March 24, for Bill Gates's Business @ The Speed of Thought; first printing will be 750,000 copies. The book is being published in 26 versions (licensees) in 60 countries and the vast majority are being released on the 24th or within a few weeks of that date. National TV advertising -- 15-second spots beginning March 28 and running through April 11 -- is planned and there is a Web site, www.speed-of-thought.com. Time ran first serial (cover) in its March 22 issue; Fortune has the second serial, for April 12. Broadcast media appearances are being negotiated. Gates's earlier bestseller, The Road Ahead, was published by Viking in November 1995. It had a 14-week run on PW's list, three in the lead spot; the publisher reported gross sales of 775,000 copies for that book during its bestseller tenure.

TRACKING B&N'S LEADERS
According to Barnes &Noble chief operating officer Alan Kahn, the top 25 bestselling titles last year in fiction and nonfiction, both hardcover and trade paper (a total of 100 titles in all) represented only about 7.3% of the chain's total retail sales for 1998. Many would have bet it was a higher percentage, but Kahn said that this lower figure underscores the fact that "the bulk of our business comes from the extensive selection of titles we carry from backlist, small, independent publishers and university presses."

The top 10 hardcover bestsellers for Barnes &Noble in 1998 in ranked order were: Tuesdays with Morrie, Nine Steps to Financial Freedom, The Street Lawyer, Rainbow Six, The Greatest Generation, Sugar Busters, A Man in Full, Simple Abundance, In the Meantime and Paradise. The top 10 paperbacks in 1998 were: Don't Sweat the Small Stuff, Dr. Atkins' New Diet Revolution, Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood, The Notebook, The Partner, Chicken Soup for the Teenage Soul, Beanie Baby Handbook, Protein Power, Into Thin Air and The Horse Whisperer.

So how many copies did the top books sell during 1998 at B&N? Both hardcover leaders are from Doubleday -- in fiction, John Grisham's Street Lawyer racked up 265,294 units; and in nonfiction, Mitch Albom's Tuesdays with Morrie sold 321,707 copies. Hyperion led the nonfiction paperbacks with Richard Carlson's Don't Sweat... for the second year in a row, and in 1998 the chain sold 540,185 units. HarperCollins led the paperback fiction list with Rebecca Wells's Divine Secrets..., at 364,999 copies.