Generating Sparks
by Daisy Maryles -- Publishers Weekly, 9/30/2002
The first week of fall brings us six new fiction bestsellers, all landing in the top 10 slots. First in that lineup is Nicholas Sparks's sixth bestseller, Nights in Rodanthe. Warner launched the book with an 830,000 first printing. The author is a tireless promoter and has drawn record crowds so far on his 20-city tour. At his first stop, on September 17 in New Bern, N.C., his hometown, he signed at the local Waldenbooks from 9:30 a.m. until about 10:30 p.m. He signed more than 2,000 books, breaking all previous records. A few days later (Sept. 20), in neighboring Charlotte, he sold about 1,500 books at the local Barnes & Noble, 800 backlist and 700 copies of Rodanthe; a day later, in Cary, N.C., he sold 1,000 more copies of Rodanthe. During his two-day stint in New York (Sept. 24 and 25) he did CBS's Early Show, CNN's The Buzz, Good Day in New York for Fox and Today in New York for NBC. There's more—New Line Cinema will start shooting The Notebook in November in his home state, while the DVD/video sales of A Walk to Remember are in the $60-million range. All of Sparks's books had double-digit runs on the national charts; his debut, The Notebook, had the best run—54 weeks. This is the second time he's hit the #1 spot the first week out; The Rescue, his fourth book, did it back in 2000.
