Last January, we lauded Dean Koontz for landing the first big hardcover seller of 2002, One Door Away from Heaven. He's first again in 2003 with By the Light of the Moon (Bantam); it lands in the #5 spot with an initial printing of nearly half a million copies, and reviews have been outstanding. One Door first landed in the #9 spot and didn't reach the half-million mark until its third printing. His fans will be happy to know that the next Koontz hardcover, The Face, is scheduled for this June.
Pete Hamill's Forever hit the list the second week of the year and immediately needed to increase its 140,000 first printing; a 25,000 second printing and 35,000 third printing make for 200,000 copies in print. Little, Brown reports that this book was "highly anticipated," and not just for the usual reasons. The bestselling author finished the manuscript back on September 10, 2001, but the original story included ties to the World Trade Center (one of the characters even had a job there). It took Hamill more than a year to rework the book. He is currently on a nine-city tour that ends next month.
Anticipation is also the right word to describe Jeffrey Archer's Sons of Fortune, published by St. Martin's Press. It is his first book in six years and his first with an American setting in more than 20 years. There are 250,000 copies of Sons in print after a second printing of 15,000.
The Arraignment is book #10 for writer/attorney Steve Martini, and Putnam launched it with 245,500 copies in print. The publisher reports foreign rights sales in the U.K. (Headline) and Bulgaria (Obsidian). And Karen Robards's latest hardcover, Whispers at Midnight, and her newest mass market reprint, To Trust a Stranger, are both bestsellers. Atria reports a 125,000-copy first printing for Whispers and Pocket went back to press on Trust for an additional 10,000 copies, making 510,000 copies in print. Robards did a six-city tour to promote both books.
