The Thinning of America
by Daisy Maryles -- Publishers Weekly, 1/19/2004
Diet books are taking over the charts these days—PW's hardcover and trade paperback lists boast seven such books. Both those lists are led by Rodale's robust South Beach duo. The South Beach Diet has more than 5,650,000 copies in print after 23 trips to press. The trade paper South Beach Diet Good Fats/Good Carbs Guide has 1.1 million copies in print after two printings. In April, Rodale will release The South Beach Diet Cookbook with a planned 1,000,000-copy first printing. Dr. Phil McGraw's The Ultimate Weight Solution has 2.5 million copies in print, according to Free Press, and Pocket's mass market The Ultimate Weight Solution Food Guide boasts 2.3 million copies in print. The heftiest name in diet bestsellers, Atkins, currently has three books on our weekly charts. Avon notes that the trade and mass market editions of Dr. Atkins' New Diet Revolution have a combined 16.5 million copies in print. A new Avon mass market, The Atkins Essentials, out for just a week, already has more than 1.5 million copies in print. And Dr. Atkins' New Carbohydrate Gram Counter from M. Evans is up to more than 2,480,000 copies in print.
