MARCHMarch 1
Impossible by Danielle Steel (Delacorte, $27). 800,000 first printing.
Taking Heat: The President, the Press, and My Years in the White House by Ari Fleischer (Morrow, $26.95). 200,000 first printing.
The Sign of the Book by John Dunning (Scribner, $25). 100,000 first printing.
A Changed Man by Francine Prose (HarperCollins, $24.95). 75,000 first printing.
Cast of Shadows by Kevin Guilfoile (Knopf, $24.95). 75,000 first printing.
The Money Book for the Young and Fabulous and Broke by Suze Orman (Riverhead, $23.95). 50,000 first printing.
March 2
Chloe Does Yale by Natalie Krinksy (Hyperion, $19.95). 50,000 first printing.
March 3
Plan B: Further Thoughts on Faith by Anne Lamott (Riverhead, $24.95). 200,000 first printing.
March 7
DisneyWar by James B. Stewart (S&S, $26.95). 200,000 first printing.
March by Geraldine Brooks (Viking, $24.95). 100,000 first printing.
March 8
Cold Service: A Spenser Novel by Robert B. Parker (Putnam, $24.95). 250,000 first printing.
Shadow of the Giant by Orson Scott Card (Tor, $25.95). 250,000 first printing.
March 9
John Adams: Party of One by James L. Grant (FSG, $30). 100,000 first printing.
March 14
Kiss Me Like a Stranger: My Search for Love and Art by Gene Wilder (St. Martin's, $23.95). 100,000 first printing.
March 15
Slow Burn by Julie Garwood (Ballantine, $25.95). 275,000 first printing.
The Red Hat Club Rides Again by Haywood Smith (St. Martin's, $24.95). 200,000 first printing.
Vanishing Acts by Jodi Picoult (Atria, $25). 175,000 first printing.
Burned by Carol Higgins Clark (Scribner, $23). 175,000 first printing.
The Truth About Love by Stephanie Laurens (Morrow, $22.95). 125,000 first printing.
100 Ways to Beat the Blues: An Uplifting Book for Anyone Who's Down by Tanya Tucker and Friends (Fireside, $19.95). 100,000 first printing.
The Sugar Camp Quilt: An Elm Creek Quilts Novel by Jennifer Chiaverini (S&S, $22). 100,000 first printing.
March 16
Junior by Macaulay Culkin (Miramax, $22.95). 50,000 first printing.
March 17
Immortal in Death by Nora Roberts writing as J.D. Robb (Putnam, $19.95). 30,000 first printing.
March 21
A Continual Feast: Words of Comfort and Celebration, Collected by Father Tim by Jan Karon (Viking, $24.95). 150,000 first printing.
March 22
Saturday by Ian McEwan (Doubleday/Talese, $26). 400,000 first printing.
March 23
Slim and Sexy Forever: The Hormone Solution for Permanent Weight Loss and Optimal Living by Suzanne Somers (Crown, $25.95). 500,000 first printing.
March 24
Hard Truth by Nevada Barr (Putnam, $24.95). 125,000 first printing.
March 29
Rachael Ray's 30-Minute Get Real Meals by Rachael Ray (Clarkson Potter, $18.95). 500,000 first printing.
Ya-Yas in Bloom by Rebecca Wells (HarperCollins, $24.95). 500,000 first printing.
The Serpent on the Crown by Elizabeth Peters (Morrow, $25.95). 150,000 first printing.
Jim Cramer's Real Money by James J. Cramer (S&S, $26). 125,000 first printing.
Paula Deen & Friends: Living It Up, Southern Style by Paula Deen with Martha Nesbit (S&S, $25). 125,000 first printing.
Dishing: Great Dish—and Dishes—from Americas Most Beloved Gossip Columnist by Liz Smith (S&S, $25). 100,000 first printing.
Assassination Vacation by Sarah Vowell (S&S, $20). 100,000 first printing.
APRIL
April 1
Nothing's Sacred by Lewis Black (Simon Spotlight Entertainment, $22.95). 100,000 first printing.
April 2
Star Wars: Episode 111: Revenge of the Sith by Matthew Stover (Del Rey, $25.95). 750,000 first printing.
April 4
Body for Life for Women: 12 Weeks to a Firm, Fabulous Body at Any Age by Pamela Peeke, M.D., foreword by Cindy Crawford (Rodale, $26.95). 250,000 first printing.
Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close by Jonathan Safran Foer (Houghton Mifflin, $24.95). 150,000 first printing.
The Ice Queen by Alice Hoffman (Little, Brown, $23.95). 150,000 first printing.
April 5
No Place Like Home by Mary Higgins Clark (S&S, $25.95). One million first printing.
The World Is Flat: A Brief History of the Twenty-first Century by Thomas L. Friedman (FSG, $26). 500,000 first printing.
Being Perfect by Anna Quindlen (Random, $12.95). 350,000 first printing.
The Mermaid Chair by Sue Monk Kidd (Viking, $24.95). 350,000 first printing.
The Year of Pleasures by Elizabeth Berg (Random House, $24.95). 100,000 first printing.
My Life So Far by Jane Fonda (Random, $26.95).
April 6
The Third Translation by Matt Bondurant (Hyperion, $22.95). 100,000 first printing.
April 7
Two-Dollar Bill by Stuart Woods (Putnam, $25.95). 250,000 first printing.
Garlic and Sapphires: The Secret Life of a Critic in Disguiseby Ruth Reichl (Penguin, $24.95). 100,000 first printing.
April 11
The 6-Day Body Makeover: Drop One Whole Size in Six Days by Eating More! by Michael Thurman (Warner, $22.95). 200,000 first printing.
Magical Mystery Tours: My Life with the Beatles by Tony Bramwell with Rosemary Kingsland (St. Martin's/Dunne, $24.95). 100,000 first printing.
Lighthousekeeping by Jeanette Winterson (Harcourt/Harvest, $23). 60,000 first printing.
April 12
True Believer by Nicholas Sparks (Warner, $24.95). 1.3 million first printing.
One Soldier's Story by Bob Dole (HarperCollins, $25.95). 300,000 first printing.
Freakonomics: A Rogue Economist Explores the Hidden Side of Everything by Steven Levitt (Morrow, $25.95). 150,000 first printing.
Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro (Knopf, $25). 100,000 first printing.
April 13
Life's Journeys According to Mr. Rogers: Things to Remember Along the Wayby Fred Rogers (Hyperion, $16.95). 200,000 first printing.
One Hundred and One Days by Asne Seierstad (Basic, $22.95). 75,000 first printing.
April 18
Searching for the Sound: My Life in the Grateful Dead by Phil Lesh (Little, Brown, $25.95). 300,000 first printing.
April 19
Monster by Frank Peretti (Thomas Nelson/WestBow, $24.99). 300,000 first printing.
Company Man by Joseph Finder (St. Martin's, $24.95). 250,000 first printing.
In the Company of Cheerful Ladies: More from the No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency by Alexander McCall Smith (Pantheon, $19.95). 175,000 first printing.
April 21
Who's Afraid of a Large Black Man: Speaking My Mind on Race, Celebrity, Sports, and American Life by Charles Barkley, edited and with an introduction by Michael Wilbon (Penguin, $29.95). 175,000 first printing.
Puttin' on the Grits: A Guide to Southern Entertaining by Deborah Ford (Dutton, $22.95). 70,000 first printing.
The Portrait by Iain Pears (Riverhead, $19.95). 50,000 first printing.
April 22
Good Morning America: The Story of My Life by Unknown, TBA (Simon Spotlight Entertainment, $22). 175,000 first printing.
April 25
Baby Laughs: The Naked Truth About the First Year of Mommyhood by Jenny McCarthy (Dutton, $19.95).
The Innocent by Harlan Coben (Dutton, $23.95).
April 26
Lost in the Forest by Sue Miller (Knopf, $24.95). 150,000 first printing.
109 East Palace: Robert Oppenheimer and the Secret City of Los Alamos by Jennet Conant (S&S, $26). 150,000 first printing.
The Treehouse: Eccentric Wisdom from My Father on How to
Live, Love, and See by Naomi Wolf (S&S, $24). 75,000 first printing.
MAY
May 2
4th of July by James Patterson and Maxine Paetro (Little, Brown, $27.95). 1.5 million first printing.
Coach: Lessons on Baseball and Life by Michael Lewis (Norton, $12.95). 200,000 first printing.
The Moments, The Minutes, The Hours: The Poetry of Jill Scott by Jill Scott (St. Martin's, $18.95). 125,000 first printing.
Becoming Justice Blackmun: Harry Blackmun's Supreme Court Journey by Linda Greenhouse (Henry Holt/Times Books, $25). 75,000 first printing.
The History of Love by Nicole Krauss (Norton, $23.95). 50,000 first printing.
A Lotus Grows in the Mud by Goldie Hawn (Putnam, $25.95).
May 3
Winning by Jack Welch and Suzy Welch (HarperBusiness, $27.95). 750,000 first printing.
Elvis by the Presleys by Priscilla and Lisa Marie Presley (Crown, $24.95). 400,000 first printing.
You Can Do It!: The Merit Badge Handbook for Grown-Up Girls by Lauren Catuzzi Grandcolas (Chronicle, $24.95). 250,000 first printing.
Zorro by Isabel Allende (HarperCollins, $24.95). 250,000 first printing.
Down Came the Rain: My Journey Through Postpartum Depression by Brooke Shields (Hyperion, $23.95). 200,000 first printing.
Alibi by Joe Kanon (Henry Holt, $26). 150,000 first printing.
May 10
Behind the Lines: Powerful and Revealing American and Foreign War Letters and One Man's Search to Find Themby Andrew Carroll (Scribner, $30). 350,000 first printing.
Countdown by Iris Johansen (Bantam, $25). 300,000 first printing.
The Hot Kid by Elmore Leonard (Morrow, $25.95). 200,000 first printing.
Nice Girls Don't Get Rich by Lois Frankel (Warner, $21.95). 125,000 first printing.
Bangkok Tattoo by John Burdett (Knopf, $24). 100,000 first printing.
Genevieve by Eric Jerome Dickey (Dutton, $23.95).
Broken Prey by John Sandford (Putnam, $26.95).
May 16
The Closers by Michael Connelly (Little, Brown, $26.95). 500,000 first printing.
May 17
Haunted by Chuck Palahniuk (Doubleday, $24.95). 125,000 first printing.
May 19
Don't Eat This Book by Morgan Spurlock (Putnam, $19.95). 75,000 first printing.
My Friend Leonard by James Frey (Riverhead, $24.95).
May 23
Oh the Glory of It All by Sean Wilsey (Penguin Press, $25.95). 80,000 first printing.
May 24
1776 by David McCullough (S&S, $35). 1.25 million first printing.
The Starter Wife by Gigi Levangie Grazer (S&S, $23). 125,000 first printing.
Cracking the Millionaire Code: Your Key to Enlightened Wealth by Robert G. Allen and Mark Victor Hansen (Harmony, $21.95).
Marker by Robin Cook (Putnam, $25.95).
May 31
Velocity by Dean Koontz (Bantam, $27). 525,000 first printing.
The Colonel and Little Missie: Buffalo Bill, Annie Oakley, and the Beginnings of Superstardom in America by Larry McMurtry (S&S, $26). 150,000 first printing.
Sunday's Best: Twenty-Five Years of CBS News Sunday Morning (with DVD) by Charles Osgood (S&S, $29.95). 100,000 first printing.
The Boys of Pointe Du Hocke: Ronald Reagan, D-Day, and the Heroic Feats of the U.S. Army Rangers by Douglas Brinkley (Morrow, $22.95). 100,000 first printing.
Never Call Retreat: Lee and Grant, the Final Victory by Newt Gingrich and William R. Forstchen (St. Martin's/Dunne, $25.95).
JUNE
June 1
Cats 24/7 and
Dogs 24/7 by Rick Smolan and David Elliot Cohen (Chronicle, $24.95 each). 100,000 first printing each.
The Washingtonienne by Jessica Cutler (Hyperion, $22.95). 100,000 first printing.
June 2
Appaloosa by Robert B. Parker (Putnam, $23.95).
A Long Way Down by Nick Hornby (Riverhead, $24.95).
June 3
The Mysterious Flame of Queen Loana by Umberto Eco (Harcourt, $28). 250,000 first printing.
June 6
The Twins of Tribeca by Rachel Pine (Miramax, $23.95). 75,000 first printing.
June 7
Specimen Days by Michael Cunningham (FSG, $24). 400,000 first printing
Devil's Corner by Lisa Scottoline (HarperCollins, $25.95). 300,000 first printing.
The Twelfth Card: A Lincoln Rhyme Novel by Jeffery Deaver (S&S, $25). 300,000 first printing.
The Wonder Spot by Melissa Bank (Viking, $24.95). 300,000 first printing.
Mr. Muo's Traveling Couch by Dai Sijie (Knopf, $22). 100,000 first printing.
Lie by Moonlight by Amanda Quick (Putnam, $24.95).
June 9
25 Ways to Win with People by John Maxwell (Nelson Business, $19.99). 100,000 first printing.
June 14
The Historian by Elizabeth Kostova (Little, Brown, $25.95). 300,000 first printing.
Marriage Most Scandalous by Johanna Lindsey (Pocket, $25). 200,000 first printing.
Always Time to Die by Elizabeth Lowell (Morrow, $24.95). 200,000 first printing.
How to Expand Love: Widening the Circle of Loving Relationships by His Holiness the Dalai Lama and Jeffrey Hopkins (Atria, $20). 100,000 first printing.
June 21
Eleven on Top by Janet Evanovich (St. Martin's, $26.95). 1.25 million first printing.
One Shot by Lee Child (Delacorte, $25). 150,000 first printing.
June 23
Captain Alatriste by Arturo Pérez-Reverte (Putnam, $23.95).
June 28
Cross Bones by Kathy Reichs (Scribner, $25). 250,000 first printing.
High Plains Tango by Robert James Waller (Crown/Shaye Areheart, $24.95). 250,000 first printing.
The Traveler: The First Novel of The Fourth Realm Trilogy by John Twelve Hawks (Doubleday, $24.95). 200,000 first printing.
Pawleys Island by Dorothea Benton Frank (Berkley, $24.95). 100,000 first printing.
Fire Sale by Sara Paretsky (Putnam, $24.95).
JULY
July 1
Freddy and Fredericka by Mark Helprin (Penguin Press, $27.95). 125,000 first printing.
July 5
Boss Lady by Omar Tyree (S&S, $21.95). 125,00 first printing.
July 6
Stuffed to the Gills: Recipes from a Very Small Island by Linda Greenlaw and Martha Greenlaw (Hyperion, $24.95). 100,000 first printing.
July 12
Until I Find You by John Irving (Random House, $27.95).
July 16
Harry Potter and the
Half-Blood Prince by J.K. Rowling (Scholastic, $29.99).
July 19
Killing Yourself to Live: 85% of a True Story by Chuck Klosterman (Scribner, $23). 100,000 first printing.
July 26
Chill of Fear by Kay Hooper (Bantam, $25). 225,000 first printing.
72 Hour Hold by Bebe Moore Campbell (Knopf, $24.95). 100,000 first printing.
Polar Shift by Clive Cussler (Putnam, $26.95).
AUGUST
August 2
Star Struck by Pamela Anderson (Atria, $24). 200,000 first printing.
Long Time Gone by J.A. Jance (Morrow, $24.95). 200,000 first printing.
August 3
Roving Mars: Spirit, Opportunity, and the Exploration of the Red Planet by Steve Squyres (Hyperion, $25.95). 100,000 first printing.
August 9
Match Me if You Can by Susan Elizabeth Phillips (Morrow, $24.95). 100,000 first printing.
Origin in Death by Nora Roberts writing as J.D. Robb (Putnam, $23.95).
August 16
Chill Factor by Sandra Brown (S&S, $25.95). 600,000 first printing.
Dogg Dayz by Snoop Dogg (Atria, $22). 150,000 first printing.
August 22
Straight into Darkness by Faye Kellerman (Warner, $25.95). 200,000 first printing.
August 23
No Country for Old Men by Cormac McCarthy (Knopf, $26). 250,000 first printing.
The announcement of a new Harry Potter title would make any year a banner one for fiction. But as our on-sale calendar shows,
J.K. Rowling is only the most prominent name on a long list of novelists with highly anticipated books coming out in the next six months.
Between March and August, roughly 26 major adult fiction authors are back after a break of several years or more, compared to about half that many last year. "There are big books for every kind of reader," says Margaret Maupin, buyer at the Tattered Cover in Denver, "and a lot of books we can get behind."
New novels by
Geraldine Brooks (Mar. 7),
Ian McEwan (Mar. 22),
Jonathan Safran Foer (Apr. 4),
Kazuo Ishiguro (Apr. 12),
Nick Hornby (June 2) and
Michael Cunningham (June 7) top literary fiction shortlists compiled by Maupin and Amazon editor Brad Parsons. On the more commercial side, Maupin and Parsons largely concur with Barnes & Noble fiction buyer Sessalee Hensley: novels by
Rebecca Wells (Mar. 29),
Sue Monk Kidd (Apr. 5),
Isabelle Allende (Apr. 3),
Robert James Waller (June 28) and
John Irving (July 12) are the ones to watch for. For Hensley, the return of so many big names suggests that "it will be an easier year to make my [budget] numbers than last year," when long-running bestsellers rather than a succession of bestselling new books carried the category.
The rise in fiction titles is balanced by a comparable decrease in the number of books by major nonfiction authors who are returning after a few years. There are roughly 15 such authors this year, compared to about 25 last year, though it's hard to say whether the decrease is related to the difficulty of anticipating the result of the 2004 election or to more mundane scheduling vagaries. Retailers should find consolation, however, in the return of
David McCullough (May 24),
Thomas Friedman (Apr. 5) and even former presidential hopeful
Bob Dole (Apr. 12), who will all get considerable attention and display across the board.
Many of the biggest titles will hit stores in the three weeks leading up to Mother's Day (May 8). B&N biography and memoir buyer Edward Ash-Milby is giving plenty of front-of-store real estate to
Anna Quindlen's Being Perfect (Apr. 5) and to a new compilation of bromides from the late TV personality
Fred
Rogers (Apr. 13). For Father's Day, which falls on June 19 this year, new books by
Jack Welch (May 3) and
Michael Lewis (May 2) are likely to get lots of play in the media and in stores.
But as Ingram senior product manager Nancy Stewart points out, a few of the season's biggest bestsellers may not even be on the radar yet. Though she doesn't expect as many books to be rushed to market as during the 2004 election year, she observed that major last-minute drop-ins are now standard. Whether the next big hit is related to the tsunami in Asia; the conflict in Iraq or other political hot spots; a major trial; or the next big reality show remains to be seen.
Note: While Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince will have the biggest printing of any children's book this year, there are about 40 other titles with printings of 40,000 copies or more, all of which will be listed in PW's Spring Children's Announcements issue on February 21.
