It's been 11 years since Jean Auel has had a new book, and back then (1991), an Auel book would go straight to #1 and also lead PW's year-end fiction sales parade. Since her last bestseller, the hottest author has been John Grisham. He is usually the year's bestselling novelist and enjoys the best opening-week sales tally. Crown is expecting that all this will change with Auel's new book, and they are gearing up for a new opening-week record for Shelters of Stone. It had a one-day laydown on April 30 and, according to Tina Constable, v-p, marketing, "by our best projections from more than 80% of our accounts, we sold more than 125,000 copies on our first day." That, she claims, is ahead of their "very bold projections," with all the accounts "telling us that this is the biggest bestseller of the year." An additional 200,000-copy printing has been added to the original run of 1.1 million. Watch this space next week to see how Auel's first week tallies compare to Grisham's.
With reporting by Dick Donahue.
