Three Trade Trotters
by Daisy Maryles -- Publishers Weekly, 2/23/2004
PW's trade paperback list welcomes three new titles this week in the top 10. First, in the #5 spot, is What Not to Wear by Trinny Woodall and Susannah Constantine. Riverhead's first printing for the book, published last July, was 100,000 copies; after nine trips to press, the number is up to 420,000. Bestseller pundits would be right in guessing that a February 9 Oprah appearance was a big reason for the leap in sales. The BBC's show of the same name is a huge success both in the U.K. and here, and the book has so far sold more than 600,000 copies.
National Book Award finalist The Devil in the White City by Erik Larson hits the trade paper list at #8. Vintage's first printing was 170,000 and it is going back for 20,000 more. Total hardcover copies in print: 240,000. Larson is now doing 19 reading/signing events in nine cities.
Matthew Pearl's The Dante Club debuted in the #10 spot, with 120,000 copies after two trips to press. Random House has the author on a 13-city reading tour through the middle of March. The hardcover edition is up to about 101,500 copies in print; it spent seven weeks on PW's list.
