The name of the publisher of a national bestseller almost always has a familiar ring. That is not the case with the #10 title on PW's nonfiction chart, A National Party No More: The Conscience of a Conservative Democrat by Georgia senator Zell Miller. The book is the inaugural title from Stroud & Hall Publishers—an Atlanta firm with plans to focus on political and current events titles. Kudos to the new publisher for getting a high ranking on all the national bestseller charts. Miller's book, published November 2, had a first printing of 100,000 copies and a second printing of 25,000 is on the way. Miller has been very busy on the publicity circuit, including appearances on Sean Hannity and Imus and all the cable news channels. Serialization rights were sold to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution and the Washington Times.
President Cecil Staton (publisher for 12 years of Mercer University Press) noted that at first he had "enormous difficulty" getting the trade and distribution channels to take on the book (distributors include Ingram, Baker & Taylor, Partners Book Distribution and the News Group East). Stroud & Hall's contract with the senator had to be approved by the U.S. Senate Select Committee on Ethics. The publisher outsourced PR efforts to Shirley & Bannister, a D.C.-area firm specializing in political books.
