Putnam Lands Two
by Daisy Maryles -- Publishers Weekly, 8/6/2001
Two veteran bestselling names make it onto our hardcover fiction bestseller list this week. Both are also familiar names at Putnam. Alice Hoffman's Blue Diary, #9 this week, is her 14th novel, and the author's 15-city national reading and publicity tour was launched in her hometown of Boston on July 24. A starred PW review was the first of a string of favorable notices and Blue Diary has already sold in the U.K., Germany, Norway and Denmark. First printing was a bit over 100,000 copies. The bestseller is also being supported by a national print ad campaign.
The name Lawrence Sanders was a regular fixture on our bestseller list and now it's helping sell books by lesser-known writers. At #10 is Lawrence Sanders' McNally's Chance: An Archy McNally Novel by Vincent Lardo, launched by Putnam with a 120,000+ first printing. It brings back Sanders's popular detective, who has had many run-ins with South Florida's fabulous and felonious. A national print ad campaign also launched this new bestseller.
