Much like Old Man River, the media book clubs keep on rolling along, gaining increased visibility with each new selection. Last week, Today and Good Morning America chose literary debuts—both from Penguin Putnam. On Monday, Today followed its pattern of authors announcing the choice; Terry McMillan did the honors for Raising Fences: A Black Man's Love Story by Michael Datcher, which then had some 8,000 copies in print. According to Liz Perl, marketing director for Riverhead trade paperbacks. "We shipped an additional 175,000 copies, and reorders are already coming in." (Perl explained that the book's new edition—sporting the Today imprimatur—was given a dummy ISBN and shipped in cartons marked "Do Not Open Until Monday October 7.") Though Datcher's work is one of the few nonfiction choices for any of the on-air clubs, it's interesting to note that Today's previous selection, A Girl Named Zippy, was also a nonfiction trade paperback. That Broadway Books release is up to 221,000 copies after six printings.
Last Thursday, the Jane Doe book club of Raleigh, N.C., passed the GMA "Read This!" baton to the Wine, Women and Jeffrey club in Columbus, Ohio—its selection was The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd. This Viking novel, published in January, had 115,000 copies in print; post-GMA, the total's now at 323,000.
With reporting by Dick Donahue
