Forget Later, Alligator—Let’s Publish Now

by Lynn Andriani, PW Daily -- Publishers Weekly, 5/18/2006

Publishers often speed up books’ publication dates if relevant news events—earthquakes, blackouts, mining accidents—take place. Now they can add alligator attacks to the list. Lyons Press, which planned on releasing Killer ’Gators and Crocs: Gruesome Encounters from Across the Globe by Michael Garlock in November, has moved the book’s pub date up to July to capitalize on the recent alligator attacks in Florida and South Carolina this spring. It has also doubled the book’s first printing, from 20,000 to 40,000 copies.

With a completed manuscript already in hand, Lyons made the decision on Tuesday to move the book’s publication up. It will skip the galley stage and go directly to finished books ($14.95 paperback). Jane Reilly, publicity manager at Globe Pequot/Falcon Guides/Lyons Press, says the books will be at Globe Pequot’s warehouse by June 20.

Lyons has had considerable success with books about deadly animals: last year’s Falcon title Death in the Grizzly Maze: The Timothy Treadwell Story was a bestseller, and older books on the Lyons list—Shark Attacks, Bear Attacks, Cougar Attacks—are staples of the house’s backlist. Killer ’Gators and Crocs describes alligator and crocodile attacks around the world, explains what compels the reptiles to attack humans, and tells readers what they can do to prevent attacks. Author Garlock, who has written for Reptile magazine, Florida Naturalist, and Reptile & Amphibian Hobbyist, is an expert in the field. Reilly has been getting swamped with broadcast media requests for the author recently.