Parlez-Vous Bestsellers?
by Daisy Maryles -- Publishers Weekly, 5/28/2001
One lucky bookseller may need to brush up on his or her French, as Knopf is sponsoring a display contest for Peter Mayle's eighth bestseller, French Lessons: Adventures with Knife, Fork, and Corkscrew. The grand prize is a trip for two to France; 12 other winning display designers will receive a bountiful basket of goodies, from champagne to foie gras. This seems a fitting event for Mayle's latest, in which the peripatetic author ventured from his Provence locale in search of gastronomic adventures in every region of France. The book was launched with a 140,000-copy printing and Mayle is in the midst of a 12-city tour. A Today appearance, TV advertising on Good Morning America and the Food Network plus lots of media coverage are the key ingredients of the publisher's promo plans.
With reporting by Dick Donahue.
