BREAK OUT THE SAKE
The economic news coming out of Japan these days may not be so rosy, but for one particular author and his debut novel set in Japan, the situation couldn't be more positive. Certainly you've heard about the book. You may even have heard that the author spent 10 years writing the novel, then threw away 2800 manuscript pages trying to get it "just right." Well, determination paid off big time for Arthur Golden. Published by Knopf last October with a first printing of 35,000 copies, Memoirs of a Geisha has gone back to press 36 times, most recently for another 50,000 copies-bringing the total in-print figure to a staggering 652,000 copies. The first novel will also be celebrating one year on the national charts (PW, NYT) this month-a feat that very few veteran bestselling novelists can boast of. Knopf, needless to say, is positively giddy about how well the book has done. Then again, it could just be all that sake they're celebrating with....

KNOWING WHICH WAY THE WIND BLOWS
James Patterson's latest, When the Wind Blows, moves up to the #2 spot after less than two weeks in the stores. (Two weeks ago in this column, we correctly predicted that the #1 slot would be occupied by Tom Wolfe's A Man in Full.) Patterson is in midst of a 17-city tour (he'll be on the Today show Dec. 3) and Little, Brown is spending about $1 million on advertising and promotion that will run through Christmas. This figure includes TV advertising and placement in all the regional holiday catalogues. First printing was a hefty 675,000 copies and the publisher went back for an additional 50,000 before the October 28 laydown date.

V.C. ANDREWS LIVES ON
Happily for her many fans, at her death in December 1986, V.C. Andrews left behind several unfinished manuscripts. Her family and publisher Pocket Books have been able to keep her name very much alive on the bestseller charts by getting a noted horror/suspense writer to anonymously complete her books and, according to the front of each book, "to create additional novels inspired by her storytelling genius." The latest creation, Runaways (The Orphans), has 1.4 million copies in print and the publisher did an additional 40,000 rush reprint. There are 75 million copies of V.C. Andrews's books in print worldwide, and that includes books published in 22 languages in 90 countries; sales for each title average more than four million copies worldwide.

IN THE GRIP OF SUCCESS
What do you get when you cross a Texas clergyman with a bestselling author? Max Lucado, whose 20th book, Just Like Jesus, published in September, hit the PW Religion bestseller list in October in the #3 slot and is currently #4 for November, with sales of more than 300,000 copies, according to Word. Publisher Lee Gessner claims that Lucado now outpaces superstars Billy Graham and James Dobson: "He is the bestselling author in Christian publishing." And those books aren't moving through only Christian bookstores -- in Word's three key general-market accounts (Barnes &Noble, Borders and Books-a-Million) Just Like Jesus is currently the #1 religion title chainwide. Word reports that more than 35,000 copies have sold through Sam's Club. The publisher expects to sell more than 150,000 copies during the Christmas season. Now 13 years into his writing career, Lucado -- senior pastor at Oak Hills Church of Christ in San Antonio and host of the radio program UpWords, which airs on more than 800 stations nationwide -- has 11 million books in print and has had titles on the CBA hardcover bestseller list every month for the past seven years. (In March and April of 1997, seven of his books were on that list.) Two previous titles, When God Whispers Your Name (1995) and In the Grip of Grace (1997), each took the Gold Medallion Christian Book of the Year Award, the highest honor in evangelical Christian publishing.