Long Auction for Luxury Book

A book called Trading Up: Why Americans Crave New Luxury and How Companies Create It was the subject of a particularly long auction that ended last week with its purchase by Adrian Zackheim and Bill Brazell for the Portfolio imprint at Putnam. Agent Todd Shuster at Zachary Shuster Harmsworth said the auction took so long because it was interrupted in the middle by the BEA show. In the end, the book by Neil Fiske and Michael Silverstein of the Boston Consulting Group, writing with John Butman, fetched a "substantial" six figures for world rights, minus audio. Doubleday and Crown were the underbidders. The book explains how manufacturers and marketers are tapping into the current craving for luxury goods, ranging from brand-name designer shoes to gourmet pet foods, and the impact this is having on our lives and economy.