SPRING PAPERBACK PREVIEW
account of a lonely furrier
finding love in 1960s London—
was beautifully written. It would
be good to see him no longer
ghettoised in fiction sections.
Edward Docx
Self Help
Picador, £7.99, 2nd, 9780330447614
Rumour has it that the last place
on the Man Booker shortlist
was between this and On Chesil
Beach. Docx is a literary star in
the making in any case.
JUNE
GIANTS
Mark Billingham
Death Message
Sphere, £6.99, 5th, 9780751537253
A giant for the first time with
Lifeless and now Little, Brown is
aiming for the number-one spot.
Cathy Kelly
Lessons in Heartbreak
Harper, £6.99, 16th, 9780007240401
A new look for Kelly, including
the backlist, as Harper hopes to
build on the already impressive
350,000 copies sold of Past
Secrets.
John Grisham
Playing for Pizza
Arrow, £6.99, 5th, 9780099519881
Following the 250,000-copy
success of Bleachers, Grisham
sets this American footballthemed
novel in Italy.
Terry Pratchett
Making Money
Corgi, £7.99, 2nd, 9780552154901
This is Pratchett’s 36th
Discworld novel and he
remains as popular as ever. Sky
will be showing an adaptation
of the first two books, starring
David Jason, in March.
Andy McNab
Crossfire
Corgi, £6.99, 16th, 9780552153782
While he still outsells Chris
Ryan 4:1 in hardback, McNab
recently lost out for the first
time in paperback with Recoil.
Transworld has responded with
a re-jacketing programme.
Kate Mosse
Sepulchre
Orion, £7.99, 26th, 9780752893440
With price promotion Labyrinth
was quite a hit even before
“Richard & Judy”. Her excellent
second novel should sell
strongly.
Jill Mansell
An Offer You Can’t Refuse
Headline, £6.99, 26th, 9780755328161
Jill Mansell takes a slightly
darker turn, with a jacket
to match. She may see a
significant growth on her usual
250,000 sales.
Dick & Felix Francis
Dead Heat
Pan, £6.99, 6th, 9780330454827
The hardback marked 50 years
in publishing for Francis and
Macmillan intend to reach out
to new readers.
Robert Goddard
Name to a Face
Corgi, £6.99, 30th, 9780552152129
Ever reliable, Goddard’s 19th
title will certainly sell 200,000
copies.
Raymond Khoury
Sanctuary
Orion, £6.99, 12th, 9780752893402
The Last Templar was originally
co-published by Ziji and Duckworth
before Orion took on mass
market rights. My reader felt that
this follow-up really stood out in
a crowded “historical-artefact
thriller” market.
Kate Morton
The Forgotten Garden
Pan, £6.99, 6th, 9780330449601
The “Richard & Judy” effect
saw half a million sales of The
House at Riverton.
Andrew Gross
The Dark Tide
Harper, £6.99, 2nd, 9780007242474
The Blue Zone showed that
Gross can sell six-figure
quantities without James
Patterson’s imprimatur.
Promotion will include online
games and advertising on
Tesco trolleys.
Lynda La Plante
Clean Cut
Pocket, £6.99, 2nd,
9781416527671
My reader didn’t
think this was
one of her very
best, but sales
of her last two
indicate that this should still
shift a healthy 200,000 copies.
Marie Phillips
Gods Behaving Badly
Vintage, £7.99, 5th,
9780099513025
The début of 2007 has more
than a hint of Douglas Adams
about it.
www.thebookseller.com The Bookseller Spring Paperback Preview | 4 January 2008 21
Katie Flynn
Sunshine and
Shadows
Arrow, £6.99, 19th,
9780099503156
With two
releases a
year and sales
exceeding
100,000 copies for every title
since 2004, then depending how
one classifies Josephine Cox,
Flynn may be the biggest name
in sagas.
Jasper Fforde
First among Sequels
Hodder, £6.99, 26th, 9780340752029
The welcome return of the
Thursday Next series and, as
usual, this is smart and funny.
Douglas Kennedy
The Woman in the Fifth
Arrow, £6.99, 5th, 9780099469254
Bizarrely ignored in his native
USA, Kennedy’s unique furrow
which might be described as
a bit like Shreve or a bit like
Irving?,continues to reap
huge sales.
Clive Cussler & Jack du Brul
Skeleton Coast
Penguin, £6.99, 26th, 9780141021621
As with Cussler’s March
release, this will sell around
150,000 copies.
Haruki
Murakami
After Dark
Vintage, £7.99, 5th,
9780099506249
The cult of
Murakami
just keeps on
growing and this
title is particularly accessible.
Torey Hayden
Overheard in a dream
Harper, £6.99, 2nd, 9780007260935
After four releases in 2007,
Hayden’s second title of 2008
is fiction, but still in the same
traumatic territory. Her sales
are phenomenal.
Nigel Slater
Eating for England
Perennial, £7.99, 2nd, 9780007199471
A Chinese takeaway of an anthology
of culinary observations and
anecdotes—delicious but not
especially filling.
Ewan McGregor & Charley
Boorman
Long Way Down
Sphere, £7.99, 5th, 9780751538953
McGregor’s recent relatively
PRODUCT PREVIEW
low profile didn’t seem to affect
hardback sales in the run-up
to Christmas. Long Way Round
sold half a million.
BESTSELLERS
Jonathan Coe
The Rain Before It Falls
Penguin, £7.99, 5th, 9780141033211
I liked the device of describing
20 family snapshots, but overall
this didn’t quite hit the spot for
me. A major stage adaptation
will open at the same time.
Scarlett Thomas
The End of Mr Y
Canongate, £7.99, 5th, 9781847670700
This sold 30,000 copies in
hardback and C-format
editions. She reminds me of Liz
Jensen and Andrew Crumey,
both regrettably underrated,
but this will be more than a cult
hit.
Nora Roberts
High Noon
Piatkus, £6.99, 5th,
9780749938987
With Little,
Brown’s
marketing
muscle behind
her perhaps the
prolific Roberts’ sales will start
to reflect her dominance in
other territories.
Michael Dobbs
The Lord’s Day
Review, £6.99, 26th, 9780755326884
Another great political thriller
from a man who knows his
stuff. Harper has finally
republished his Francis
Urquhart trilogy too.
George
MacDonald
Fraser
The Reavers
Harper, £7.99, 2nd,
9780007253845
An Elizabethan
outing from
the creator of
Flashman. Paperback sales
may be boosted by the fact that
the 197-page hardback was
£18.99—independent retailers
weren’t happy.
Ann Patchett
Run
Bloomsbury, £7.99, 2nd, 9780747593225
Patchett’s last title, Ben Canto,
won both the Orange Prize and
the Pen/Faulkner and sold
120,000 copies, but it came out
seven years ago. There was a
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