In HarperCollins's recent announcement of its acquisition of Ecco Press (News, February 22), HarperCollins president Jane Friedman called the Hopewell, N.J.-based literary house "a valuable addition to our company," with a "superb backlist of literary fiction, nonfiction, and p try."
And here's some proof of that value: Two of Ecco's 1999 releases, Feeding the Ghosts by Fred D'Aguiar and Hare Brain Tortoise Mind: How Intelligence Increases When You Think Less by British psychologist Guy Claxton, have sold out of their 5500-copy first printings, "big numbers for us," said Ecco publicist Gail Brussels.
The two very different titles found their readers in very different ways. Brussels said "the libraries went crazy" for January release Feeding the Ghosts, a p tic novel reminiscent of the Amistad incident but featuring a female-led slave-ship uprising. Brodart, the library distributor, made a big initial buy for its McNaughton unit, a program that leases multiple copies of popular titles to libraries. Each month the firm circulates a very selective catalogue of 100 titles to more than 7000 public libraries (and to even more military base libraries around the world). "It can make a big difference to a book that's selected," said Guy McMullen, McNaughton's marketing manager.
For February release Hare Brain, a serious but quirky nonfiction title that preaches to business managers the benefits of, well, creative loafing, the big difference turned out to be John Cleese -- that's right, the comedian and Monty Python veteran. "Cleese came out of nowhere," said Ecco Press publisher Daniel Halpern, who personally acquired both of these books.
Not quite. For many years the actor has also made business-training videos. After discovering the book, he wrote a blurb for it and then began talking about Hare Brain and its author -- a lot. In the February 7 New York Times, he heaped praise on Claxton and his theories on "the benefits of slow thinking." A week later, he said much the same in a similar article for Newsweek. Since both articles were published, "We've gotten a flood of calls from business reporters." said Brussels.
Ecco's absorption into HarperCollins is expected to come in July, and Halpern hopes he can use the larger house's monies to promote these and other titles, the economic imperative that promoted his sale in the first place. "We should be sinking $30,000 or $40,000 in co-op money into marketing. But right now that's beyond us. We'll be able to do it at HarperCollins."
