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Behind the Bestsellers
Daisy Maryles -- 3/27/00

Sugar Still Sweet

Nearly two years after its May 1998 publication, Ballantine's Sugar Busters! continues to generate tremendous interest from newspapers and magazines (192 weeks on PW's nonfiction list), and the authors--H. Leighton Steward, Morrison C. Bethea, M.D., Sam S. Andrews, M.D., and Luis A. Balart, M.D.--are still in great demand for radio interviews. On February 24, Dr. Bethea was part of the Great Nutrition Debate sponsored by the Department of Agriculture in Washington, D.C. He appeared on Good Morning America the following day, with diet gurus Dean Ornish, Barry Sears and Dr. Robert C. Atkins. In an especially notable endorsement, none other than Elizabeth Taylor mentioned the book several times during a February 23 Today interview, raving not only about how much she likes the diet but how well it's actually working for her. There are more than two million copies in print after 49 printings.

Bodyguard Blitz

Shortly after the death of Princess Diana in September 1997, about a half a dozen books enjoyed runs on the bestseller charts. On the first anniversary, more books about the princess made the charts. Now it's Trevor Rees-Jones's turn to tell what he knows, in Warner's The Bodyguard's Story: Diana, the Crash, and the Sole Survivor, which was laid down March 15 with a 250,000-copy printing. Within a few days, the book hit the national charts (#14 on PW's list). An interview on 60 Minutes with Mike Wallace on March 12 was followed by a cover story and book excerpt in People. Jones spent three days in New York with a schedule that included 35 interviews. For example, his first stop on Monday, March 20, was at Good Morning America for a 7:35 airtime; by the end of the day he had been interviewed eight more times by print and broadcast media and he finished up at a private dinner party.

Ramsey Book Scores

Thomas Nelson has tackled a controversial subject with its latest bestseller, The Death of Innocence by John and Patsy Ramsey.The Nelson team set up an intense media schedule that began with Barbara Walters on 20/20 and included an interview with Larry King and five five-minute segments with Katie Couric on Today the week of March 20; Newsweek was the first to publish a print interview. On-sale date for the book was March 17 and the publisher has gone back to press to replenish the first printing of 310,000 copies. While this is an unusual book for Nelson, publisher Rolf Zettersten noted that the project was of interest because the Ramseys had not stated their story in the press; it had a strong element of faith; and, after many conversations with them and their family and friends, he was "convinced" that the Ramseys were not guilty of the many accusations leveled against them.

Stringing Readers Along

Be honest: How many of you know what string theory is? Theoretical physicist--and bestselling author--Brian Greene has been addressing that topic on his tour to promote Vintage's trade paper edition of The Elegant Universe: Superstrings, Hidden Dimensions, and the Quest for the Ultimate Theory. His multimedia presentation has been attracting enthusiastic crowds of 200 to 400 people--and they're not the only ones interested. With a Newsweek feature in the works and a Nightline special set to air early next month, Greene is doing for string theory what Carl Sagan once did for astronomy: explaining it in terms that listeners can actually understand. Vintage publicist David Hyde reports that after four printings, the book (marking its second week on our list) is up to 109,000 copies. Its author can soon be seen on both big and small screens--in a cameo in the film Frequency (starring Dennis Quaid, opening April 28) and in a Nova series based on The Elegant Universe.

With reporting by Dick Donahue
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