Behind the Bestsellers

Bestsellers
Behind the Bestsellers Daisy Maryles -- 12/13/99 More on Morrie For much of the last two years, Tuesdays with Morrie could be found in one of the top three slots on the national charts. This week it again moves into the #1 spot, with amazing sales numbers. At the three national chains (Barnes & Noble, Borders and Waldenbooks) alone, sales for the week ending December 4 exceeded 106,000 copies. A week earlier, when Tuesdays was in the #2 slot on most national charts, the same three retailers reported sales of about 19,300 units. What a difference a week makes, especially if a book has been touched by the industry's most effective spokesperson--and that would definitely be Oprah. She was the producer of the ABC-TV movie starring Jack Lemmon and Hank Azaria that aired on Sunday, December 5. And on December 7, Ted Koppel on Nightline did a new Morrie show. On Thursday, December 2, Oprah's entire program focused on the upcoming movie; the book's author, Mitch Albom, was a guest, along with people who gave testimonials about how Tuesdays had changed their lives. Sales the next day, Friday, December 3, topped 40,000 at the three chains. Meanwhile, the Doubleday staff was in sales meeting down in Florida. The publisher hit the reprint button quickly, going back for two printings totaling 800,000. That makes 80 trips to press with a total of 4.1 million copies sold. When Oprah Called It seems safe to assume that many authors daydream about that phone call from Oprah telling them that they've been chosen as the next book club pick. (It's like the fantasy we all share about Ed McMahon ringing our doorbell with that $1 million check from Publishers Clearing House.) A. Manette Ansay -- the #1 author on PW's trade paper list, thanks to Oprah's choosing Vinegar Hill as Book Club pick #28 -- was at the MacDowell Colony working on a new novel when the unexpected event happened. Located in Peterborough, N.H., MacDowell is a place where artists, writers and composers can escape for a month to work undisturbed by outside forces. (In fact, back in June 1991, Ansay was there working on Vinegar Hill.) There are usually 15 to 20 people at the colony, with a single pay phone that all share; Ansay had given the number only to her husband. One night, while dining with her new friends (as they do every night), the phone rang. Ansay, of course, expected it to be her husband, but when she heard a female voice say, "A. Manette Ansay," she knew in an instant who it was. Oprah proceeded to tell her that she enjoyed her book River Angel but loved Vinegar Hill, and that it was going to be her next book club selection. The ecstatic Ansay told Oprah how she couldn't wait to share the news with her friends at the colony, but Oprah asked her to keep it a secret for two weeks. When she returned to the cafeteria with a stunned look on her face, her colleagues wanted to know who was on the phone. She told them she had a fight with her husband but all was fine. And fine it was, as the book's pre-Oprah print total was 18,000 and Avon went back to press for 750,000 more. Since then the house has gone back for another 50,000. Sequels Rule At the end of 1998, two books were vying for the #1 nonfiction spot -- Tom Brokaw's *The Greatest Generation, from Random House, and Peter Jennings's The Century, from Doubleday. Both these books are also currently high on the national charts, as are the 1999 sequels they have inspired. First printing for Brokaw's The Greatest Generation Speaks* is 750,000; there are three million copies in print for his 1998 bestseller. And Doubleday's catchy tagline, "Don't leave the century without it," is certainly delivering the right message: The Century, which Jennings wrote with Todd Brewster, has more than one million copies in print. Its sequel, *The Century for Young People* (Children's Books, Nov. 22), is also performing very well; it would be on PW's weekly charts if we didn't have a separate (monthly) children's bestseller list. There are 300,000 copies in print for this new 1999 model.

Bestsellers

Behind the Bestsellers
Daisy Maryles -- 12/13/99

More on Morrie
For much of the last two years, Tuesdays with Morrie could be found in one of the top three slots on the national charts. This week it again moves into the #1 spot, with amazing sales numbers. At the three national chains (Barnes & Noble, Borders and Waldenbooks) alone, sales for the week ending December 4 exceeded 106,000 copies. A week earlier, when Tuesdays was in the #2 slot on most national charts, the same three retailers reported sales of about 19,300 units. What a difference a week makes, especially if a book has been touched by the industry's most effective spokesperson--and that would definitely be Oprah. She was the producer of the ABC-TV movie starring Jack Lemmon and Hank Azaria that aired on Sunday, December 5. And on December 7, Ted Koppel on Nightline did a new Morrie show. On Thursday, December 2, Oprah's entire program focused on the upcoming movie; the book's author, Mitch Albom, was a guest, along with people who gave testimonials about how Tuesdays had changed their lives. Sales the next day, Friday, December 3, topped 40,000 at the three chains. Meanwhile, the Doubleday staff was in sales meeting down in Florida. The publisher hit the reprint button quickly, going back for two printings totaling 800,000. That makes 80 trips to press with a total of 4.1 million copies sold.

When Oprah Called
It seems safe to assume that many authors daydream about that phone call from Oprah telling them that they've been chosen as the next book club pick. (It's like the fantasy we all share about Ed McMahon ringing our doorbell with that $1 million check from Publishers Clearing House.) A. Manette Ansay -- the #1 author on PW's trade paper list, thanks to Oprah's choosing Vinegar Hill as Book Club pick #28 -- was at the MacDowell Colony working on a new novel when the unexpected event happened. Located in Peterborough, N.H., MacDowell is a place where artists, writers and composers can escape for a month to work undisturbed by outside forces. (In fact, back in June 1991, Ansay was there working on Vinegar Hill.) There are usually 15 to 20 people at the colony, with a single pay phone that all share; Ansay had given the number only to her husband. One night, while dining with her new friends (as they do every night), the phone rang. Ansay, of course, expected it to be her husband, but when she heard a female voice say, "A. Manette Ansay," she knew in an instant who it was. Oprah proceeded to tell her that she enjoyed her book River Angel but loved Vinegar Hill, and that it was going to be her next book club selection. The ecstatic Ansay told Oprah how she couldn't wait to share the news with her friends at the colony, but Oprah asked her to keep it a secret for two weeks. When she returned to the cafeteria with a stunned look on her face, her colleagues wanted to know who was on the phone. She told them she had a fight with her husband but all was fine. And fine it was, as the book's pre-Oprah print total was 18,000 and Avon went back to press for 750,000 more. Since then the house has gone back for another 50,000.

Sequels Rule
At the end of 1998, two books were vying for the #1 nonfiction spot -- Tom Brokaw's The Greatest Generation, from Random House, and Peter Jennings's The Century, from Doubleday. Both these books are also currently high on the national charts, as are the 1999 sequels they have inspired. First printing for Brokaw's The Greatest Generation Speaks is 750,000; there are three million copies in print for his 1998 bestseller. And Doubleday's catchy tagline, "Don't leave the century without it," is certainly delivering the right message: The Century, which Jennings wrote with Todd Brewster, has more than one million copies in print. Its sequel, The Century for Young People (Children's Books, Nov. 22), is also performing very well; it would be on PW's weekly charts if we didn't have a separate (monthly) children's bestseller list. There are 300,000 copies in print for this new 1999 model.