Ballantine's Winsome Twosome
by Daisy Maryles -- Publishers Weekly, 2/16/2004
Two new fiction debuts for Ballantine is happy news for the house. The first, Seduced by Moonlight by Laurell K. Hamilton, lands high, in the #4 spot, with about 100,000 copies in print after four printings. It's the third book in the author's series featuring hardboiled detective/fugitive faerie princess Meredith Gentry. Heavy on-line promotion was key to the book's fast success. The publisher's campaign began back in November with e-mails to Hamilton's e-newsletter subscribers (about 31,500 of them). The book has been featured on the author's Web site, on more than 60 other sites and in all of the Random House online and Internet newsletters. TV spots have run on the Sci-fi Channel and during episodes of Buffy the Vampire Slayer.
A 90,000 first printing was ordered for Star Wars: Survivor's Quest by Timothy Zahn. Zahn is on a 12-city tour and at many stops he has been greeted by fans dressed in Star Wars costumes (including an Imperial Guard and Darth Vader). Close to two million people on the StarWars.com e-mail list received a Valentine's Day message announcing the book with the text: "I've grown accustomed to your Force."
—With reporting by Dick Donahue
