The Flush of Success

Just when you thought it was safe to go back into the refrigerator comes a new weight-loss plan, this one clearly demonstrating the benefits of a carefully orchestrated promotional campaign. It's The Fat Flush Plan: The Breakthrough Weight-Loss System That Melts Fat from Hips, Waist and Thighs in Just Two Weeks and Reshapes Your Body While Detoxifying Your System, which, according to publisher McGraw-Hill, revolves around a "new paradigm shift" in weight loss and weight control: "the discovery of the liver as your primary fat-burning organ." Author Ann Louise Gittleman (Get the Sugar Out, Beyond Pritikin, etc.) has been hitting the publicity trail big time, and the results have been pretty spectacular. According to Lynda Luppino, marketing v-p for McGraw-Hill Trade, "There was an initial major launch in January, and then an ongoing campaign to establish the book—through constant radio and print exposure—and then a second big push for swimsuit season." Since then, she adds, "the book has been one of the key diet books at the chains." Gittleman's program, Luppino explains, was a major success on ivillage.com for aa full year before her book's appearance—"so right out of the gate the book had a built-in audience." The book has appeared on the USA Today and Wall St. Journal bestseller charts, and hit the extended New York Times Advice and How-to list this past weekend. Numerous ads have run in national and regional newspapers, and Gittleman has done well over 100 radio interviews. Based out of Coeur d'Alene, Idaho, she's continuing to participate in national conferences; next week her visit to Atlanta will include the Atlanta Mania Fitness Instructor Training Convention, with similar events in Dallas and Chicago planned for the fall. Copies in print: 175,000.

With reporting by Dick Donahue