Two Sharks Surface on Summer List
by Judy Quinn -- Publishers Weekly, 5/12/1997
Call Charles Wilson the pilot fish in the seas of commercial fiction. While Doubleday is gearing up its $400,000 marketing campaign for Meg (200,000 first printing, June 2 laydown), a first novel about a megalodon prehistoric shark, the SMP mass market author has, since the first week of April, been out with a 200,000 first printing of his own Extinct, a novel about, yes, a similar Jurassic shark. At press time, the book, which had a minimal marketing budget, has made it to #124 on USA Today's bestseller list."He has an uncanny ability to predict trends," said SMP editor Jennifer Enderlin, who claims Wilson's book wasn't a beat-the-competitor gambit but was signed up before Alten's seven-figure two-book deal was concluded last fall. Enderlin also noted that Wilson had a jump on the Neanderthal craze with his Direct Descendant, which sold approximately 100,000 copies. Wilson's Fertile Ground (also a 100,000-copy seller) was released after the similar-themed Hot Zone but was in the works before, said Enderlin.
For Doubleday publisher Arlene Friedman, the books aren't the same kettle of fish. "We're not worried; we have the better book," said Friedman, who is facing more direct competition (and so far winning) with its Mothers &Daughters and Running Press's Daughters &Mothers currently going head-to-head. She believes the hardcover Meg is the "classier," heftier buy, reflected in its cover design, where a gaping shark is conspicuously absent (although it's featured in floor display material).
Next month will determine how well Meg will do, and both publishers expect a second wave of sales once Extinct's NBC-TV adaptation and Meg's Disney film come to pass; Wilson's, perhaps not surprisingly, is expected to come out first. Enderlin told PW she's in the process of signing Wilson up for his next book and is considering breaking him out in hardcover. But she won't reveal what his next plot might be. "I'm going to keep this one under wraps," she said.
Talkback
Related Content
Related Content
PW PARTNERS
