Shreve's Post-O Numbers

While an Oprah Book Club pick always goes on to sell in huge numbers, sales figures for subsequent books by the same writer have seldom met anticipated higher numbers. Not so, however, with Anita Shreve. When Oprah chose The Pilot's Wife in March 1999, Back Bay did a first printing of 650,000, followed immediately by an additional 150,000; the Little, Brown hardcover had 35,000 copies in print. It was the author's sixth book, and as an Oprah selection it had a run of 50 weeks on PW's chart, 19 of them in the #1 spot. Three years later, Oprah's 23rd pick is in its 27th paperback printing with a total of 2,945,000 copies; the hardcover number doubled to 70,000. Shreve's next book, Fortune's Rocks (Little, Brown hardcover in December 1999 and Back Bay trade paper in January 2001) currently has 275,000 copies in hardcover and 325,000 in trade paper. Her latest bestseller, The Last Time They Met, is beginning its second month on the trade paper charts and so far has 415,300 copies in print; the hardcover has 295,000 copies in print. While Shreve has not gotten close to her Oprah pick numbers, sales for her newer books have enjoyed tremendous growth. All this bodes very well for her next hardcover, Sea Glass (it got a starred PW review), coming April 9. Little, Brown plans a one-day laydown (Shreve's first) and a 300,000-copy first printing. Promotion plans include a 10-city tour and a $100,000 advertising budget. And to top it all off, the CBS movie version of The Pilot's Wife, starring Christine Lahti and Campbell Scott, will air on Sunday, April 14; Shreve co-wrote the script.

With reporting by Dick Donahue