Mailer's Gospel Shines
-- Publishers Weekly, 5/26/1997
Norman Mailer's latest bestseller,
The Gospel According to the Son, continues to climb the national and regional charts; it even hit the top slot on the
L.A. Times's list earlier this month. While Random House launched the book in mid-April with a 65,000-copy first printing, six additional trips to press take the in-print total to 96,500. Syndication in the
New York Daily News, major print interviews, Mailer's appearances on
Today and
Charlie Rose, plus a print teleconference by
Planned TV Arts, were just some of the publicity efforts during the book's opening weeks. Reviews were mixed, with positive notices from
PW (a starred box), Reynolds Price in the
NYTBR and John Updike in the
New Yorker. Readings in six cities were all successful, with more than 200 attending each event. Next month Random is sending Mailer on a second wave tour, with stops in Cincinnati, Columbia, S.C., Nashville and Seattle. In each city, the local paper will run a serial excerpt before Mailer arrives and stores are arranging for a 400-plus seat, off-site venue in each city. Also coming up is a 20-city drive-time radio satellite tour, to be split between May 30 and June 6.
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