Nora's Newbies
by Daisy Maryles -- Publishers Weekly, 2/9/2004
Perhaps the most prolific author on our bestseller lists is Nora Roberts, who regularly has multiple titles hitting the charts. And it looks like she'll beat her previous records in 2004. Her first bestseller of the year is Divided in Death by her nom de plume J.D. Robb. This is the first hardcover in Robb's In Death series; 18 paperbacks featuring Lt. Eve Dallas and her billionaire husband, Roarke, were mass market top sellers. Putnam reports 318,000 copies in print for the newest book. The author also has two mass market bestsellers landing this week: Chesapeake Blues from Berkley (2.8 million copies in print) and Captivated from Silhouette (1.6 million copies in print). Two other books by Roberts—Key of Valor and Key of Knowledge—are still on the paperback charts. That gives the author four mass market bestsellers. These, plus three by Dan Brown and two from Dr. Atkins, add up to nine of the 15 mass market bestseller spots held by just three authors. Perhaps it's time for the FTC to check out list monopolization.
