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Bestsellers

Behind the Bestsellers
Daisy Maryles -- 5/15/00

Novels Galore
In just two weeks, 26 new books have made it onto PW's weekly bestseller lists; the largest turnover--eight books--was on the hardcover fiction list. Four new books made it onto the May 8 and the May 15 list. Competition is brisk, and one bestseller--Saul Bellow's Ravelstein, with 86,500 copies in print after two trips to press--dropped to #17.

A brand-name newcomer--Star Wars: Rogue Planet by Greg Bear from Del Rey/LucasBooks--continues to please and after one week on sale, went back to press for a second printing, bringing the total in print to 193,000. The author is finishing an eight-city tour.

With He Shall Thunder in the Sky, Elizabeth Peters completes a quartet of stories in her popular mystery series featuring Edwardian Egyptologist Amelia Peabody. According to Morrow, a first printing of 77,500 had to be replenished twice within a week, for a total of 95,000 copies. Her previous book, The Falcon at the Portal, was on the mass market chart for two weeks. Avon's first printing of 190,000 copies also had to be replenished twice, bring the total to 225,000 copies.

Warner's May 2 one-day laydown for Sandra Brown's Standoff was a big success. The 440,000-copy printing was supplemented by a second trip to press for 25,000 more. A 15-second TV spot is airing in New York, Los Angeles, Chicago and Washington, D.C., and on national cable, until the end of the month, to be followed in June by a 30-second radio spot.

Rounding off the four fiction newcomers is Fierce Invalids Home from Hot Climates by Tom Robbins. It's the author's first book in almost six years, his seventh, and Bantam has gone back to press for a third printing, bringing the total to 130,000. The author is doing an eight-city national tour; the first stop, at NYC's Union Square Barnes & Noble, drew more than 500 fans.

Nonfiction Stars
Bantam also has one of the two new nonfiction bestsellers. Flags of Our Fathers by James Bradley has more than 250,000 copies in print after three trips to press, and a fourth is planned. Bradley is the son of one of the six men famously pictured raising the American flag on Iwo Jima during World War II and his book tells the personal stories of the flag-raisers. A rave by acclaimed WWII chronicler Stephen Ambrose ("The best battle book I've ever read") and a glowing NYT review by Richard Bernstein ("One of the most instructive and moving books on war and its aftermath that we are likely to see") are just some of the kudos the book has received. Bradley is on an extensive tour and will be visiting military bases across the country well into the summer.

The second new nonfiction debut this week is Necessary Journeys: Letting Ourselves Learn from Life by Dr. Nancy L. Snyderman and Peg Streep. Hyperion has 65,000 copies in print after four trips to press. Snyderman, surgeon, mother of three and ABC News medical correspondent, was interviewed by Charlie Gibson on Good Morning America over four days. She candidly discussed events that shaped her life, including bankruptcy, failed marriage and rape. The response was so strong that GMA is planning follow-up shows that will include panels of women who will share stories. Snyderman is finishing a 10-city tour; her bookstore appearances have drawn standing-room-only crowds.

QVC's Top-selling Author
That would be Suze Orman, who launched her new series of financial titles, The 'Ask Suze' Financial Library on QVC and within nine weeks sold more than 200,000 sets (1.8 million individual books); Penguin Putnam is the publisher. About three years ago, Orman sold more than 25,000 copies of Nine Steps to Financial Freedom (Crown, 1997) on QVC in one hour.
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