Random's Winning Duo
by Daisy Maryles -- Publishers Weekly, 1/27/2003
Two new bestsellers hit the national charts at the same time that the big shakeup at Random House was hitting national headlines (RH publisher Ann Godoff was dismissed for not hitting the division's profit targets). White House insider and Bush's former speechwriter David Frum was the right man to write The Right Man: The Surprise Presidency of George W. Bush. He seemed to be on almost every radio and TV show during the book's first week in the stores and Random expects lots more media attention after the president's State of the Union address on January 28. So far, there are 110,000 copies in print after two printings. The second bestseller, Po Bronson's What Should I Do with My Life? The True Story of People Who Answered the Ultimate Question, has had seven printings for a total of 120,000 copies. A sales catalyst was a nine-minute radio documentary with the author and four of his subjects on NPR's Morning Edition.
