John Grisham joins the ever-growing group of veteran bestselling novelists (e.g., Mary Higgins Clark's Deck the Halls; Danielle Steel's The Gift; James Patterson's Miracle on the 17th Green and Jan Karon's current bestseller, The Mitford Snowmen) who pen a shorter book, often with a holiday theme. It's almost always a second book that the author will do in a given year and--surprise--it's usually very successful. Certainly, Grisham's "gift" to his fans, Skipping Christmas, could be the leader in this holiday category. Doubleday launched the book with a 1.5 million-copy printing; while lower than the usual 2.8 million or so for a Grisham thriller, the figure's higher than usual for this sort of book. Karon's very short book (23 pages to be exact) has been on the list so far for six weeks; its in-print total is up to 300,000. Doubleday is leaving no stone unturned to make sure Grisham's tome gets noticed: color launch ads in the New York Times, and in USA Today closer to Christmas; two weeks of TV spots on Todayand Good Morning America, the week before Thanksgiving and again a week before Christmas; and from mid-November through mid-December, a TV book-giveaway promotion in 13 cities, culminating in a grand prize Caribbean cruise. Fans have only to wait until February 6 for Grisham's next legal thriller; Doubleday is planning a 2.8-million first printing for The Summons.
With reporting by Dick Donahue.
