Starbucks Succeeds with Albom; Second Book Planned

by Edward Nawotka, PW Daily -- Publishers Weekly, 10/26/2006

Starbucks has sold 45,000 copies of Mitch Albom's novel For One More Day (Hyperion) since it went on sale at the chain October 3, a week after the book reached bookstores. The figure accounts for roughly 12% of a total of 391,000 copies sold, as tabulated by Nielsen BookScan. (BookScan, which added Starbucks to its file the week it began selling For One More Day, represents about 70% of total book sales).

Ken Lombard, head of Starbucks' entertainment division, said, "So far, it's been a great success."Initially, the merchandising of Albom's book was planned to end on November 6, though Lombard said that the company is "going to take a look at that" and may consider extending sales of the book through the holiday season.

Bob Miller, president of Hyperion Books, said that Starbucks has recently reordered. So far, Hyperion has four million copies of For One More Day in print. Miller added that sales of the title “are running week against week 150% over [Albom’s] The Five People You Meet in Heaven, which sold six million copies."

Starbucks has planned several promotions around For One More Day, including eight appearances at Starbucks stores and today's nationwide "Book Break," discussion groups at 25 Starbucks locations.

Albom, who works as a sportswriter and radio host in Detroit, has committed to a total of 74 events to promote the book. So far, with the Detroit Tigers playing in the World Series, he has been forced to cancel yesterday's appearance at a Joseph-Beth bookstore in Nashville. Albom also plans to conduct a final driving tour to bookstores in Michigan in the weeks leading up to Christmas.

PW has also learned that Starbucks is on the verge of signing a deal to sell a second title in their stores. The next book is expected to be a novel by a first-time novelist. William Morris Agency, which scouts books for Starbucks and negotiates terms on its behalf, is said to be in discussion with a variety of publishers, though Farrar, Straus & Giroux has been mentioned several times as the likely publisher.