MacAdam/Cage Looks to Leverage Novel's Success
by Jim Milliot -- Publishers Weekly, 10/20/2003
The success MacAdam/Cage has had with Audrey Niffenegger's The Time Traveler's Wife will not change the publisher's primary mission, described by marketing and sales director Melanie Mitchell as "finding and breaking out new authors." Mitchell does hope that the success of The Time Traveler's Wife will help MacAdam/Cage "keep more of our authors in the fold." MacAdam/Cage has already signed four of its authors—Mark Dunn, Michael Kun, Norman Gautreau and Amanda Eyre Ward—to new deals, but it doesn't have the rights to Niffenegger's next book. "We'd love to have her back. I'm sure there will be phenomenal interest in it," Mitchell said.
With 100,000 copies in print, The Time Traveler's Wife "is far and away our biggest seller ever," Mitchell said, topping MacAdam/Cage's previous bestselling title, Girl in Hyacinth Blue, by about 40,000 copies. While The Time Traveler's Wife had "lots of early buzz," the novel's big break came when Scott Turow chose it as the Today Show's book club selection on September 17. After Turow's nod, MacAdam/Cage's main concern "was getting vast quantities into the marketplace as quickly as possible," Mitchell said. Mitchell acknowledged that the company "was playing catch-up" in the weeks immediately following the Today Show selection, but she believes most accounts now have the inventory they need. The title has been on both the PW and New York Times bestseller lists and it hit the Book Sense list October 12 in the number 4 spot.
Mitchell is particularly happy that The Time Traveler's Wife is selling well at the independents. Indie booksellers "have been very supportive of what we're trying to do and I'm glad their faith has been rewarded," Mitchell said.
Despite the financial gain from The Time Traveler's Wife—the company recently sold foreign rights to publishers in the U.K., Germany, France, Holland, Israel and Sweden—there are no plans to expand MacAdam's list. Thirty titles are set for next year, a figure that Mitchell said will likely remain in place for the foreseeable future. Rather than grow the list, MacAdam plans to use its greater resources "to get better results for our authors," Mitchell said.
