Heading North

Once again, The South Beach Diet by Dr. Arthur Agatston has taken the top spot in hardcover nonfiction; that's the sixth time in the last 16 weeks. Rodale v-p and publisher of trade books Amy Rhodes reports four reprintings of 100,000 copies each in the past month and she is getting ready to push the button for another 100,000 copies. That 14th printing will take the in-print total to 1.2 million. The expanded direct-market edition (with more recipes and a price of $29.95) has sold about 200,000 copies. In PW's News section last week (July 28), Rodale president Steve Murphy said he expects that the company's first #1 trade bestseller will sell more than 1.5 million copies in 2003. Spurring sales are recent references to Bill and Hillary Clinton's success with the diet on Jay Leno, as well as mentions in tabloid and general newspapers. According to Bookscan, in the past two weeks, the book has sold more than 69,000 and 63,000 copies, respectively; that first number is the highest for the book so far, the second is the next highest.