In one of the more unusual rep efforts for a favorite book, the Penguin Sales Group is pulling out the stops for a
book first published in the U.S. more than two years ago--aiming to get
it on the New York Times bestseller list and help it "gain an ever-wide
readership."
The book is The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafon, translated by Lucia Graves (Penguin, $15, 0143034901), a bestseller in 45 countries that won the 2004 Borders Original Voices Award for Fiction, gained a 2005 Book Sense Book of the Year Honor Award and was chosen for the Barnes & Noble Discover Great New Writers program. Since its release in January 2005, Penguin has shipped some 497,000 copies of the trade paperback edition.
For what it's calling Shadow of the Wind lollapalooza month, Penguin reps have drummed up support at Hastings Entertainment, which has adopted The Shadow of the Wind for its summer book club. Pennie Clark Ianniciello, Costco's book buyer, has picked the title for her Pennie's Pick in the June issue of the Costco Connection, which goes to many of the wholesale club's members. The publication also has an interview with the author.
Last but not least, Penguin is resoliciting the many bookseller accounts that have already enjoyed handselling the book. The "task" may not be too difficult, considering some of the praise the book has won, as related by booksellers to Penguin.
First, here's a description of the book--which begins in 1945 in Barcelona--by Barbara Peters of Poisoned Pen, Scottsdale, Ariz., who made it a First Mystery Club Pick in 2004: "The young boy Daniel weeps for he cannot remember his mother's face. To console him, his father, an antiquarian bookseller, initiates Daniel into the secrets of the Cemetery of Forgotten Books, a vast (and uncatalogued) library of winding stacks and hidden treasures tended by Barcelona's guild of rare book dealers. Daniel, his father says, should choose whatever book that comes to hand; it will have special meaning for him. And indeed Daniel so loves the book he selects, The Shadow of the Wind by one Julian Carax, that he sets out to find the rest of Carax's work, only to learn that someone has been systematically destroying every single copy of every book Carax wrote. Daniel's may be the very last one. Fascinated by the blind Clara, daughter of the owner of a palatial city bookstore, he constructs a mirage world that with time, and his innocent quest after Carax, opens a door into one of Barcelona's darkest secrets."
Rick Zander of Carytown Books, Richmond, Va., called the book "an easy handseller no matter the customer's taste" and said he uses it as a "training tool. I have a new employee watch a senior staff member handsell The Shadow of the Wind. Then I have the new staff member read the book. The book is so outstanding that it gives the new employee the confidence to start handselling."
At the Galaxy Bookshop, Hardwick, Vt., the book "continues to be one of our top sellers by being on the staff picks table," according to Sandy Johnson. "Plus everyone else in the store knows how much I liked it, so if a customer's looking for a good novel, they'll say, 'Well, Sandy loved Shadow of the Wind and everyone she's recommended it to has loved it, too.' "
The Shadow of the Wind was the "book of the year" in 2004 at Nicola's Books in Ann Arbor, Mich., according to Nicola Rooney, who said that "it retains its place among our favorite novels of all time. . . . A book about the lure of books--what a treat."
The title was also the book of the year in 2004 at Queen Anne Avenue Books in Seattle, Wash. Tegan Tigani commented: "What I love about The Shadow of the Wind is that it's a novel that has it all--history, mystery, romance and gorgeous language--but is unlike any other book out there."
The book is The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafon, translated by Lucia Graves (Penguin, $15, 0143034901), a bestseller in 45 countries that won the 2004 Borders Original Voices Award for Fiction, gained a 2005 Book Sense Book of the Year Honor Award and was chosen for the Barnes & Noble Discover Great New Writers program. Since its release in January 2005, Penguin has shipped some 497,000 copies of the trade paperback edition.
For what it's calling Shadow of the Wind lollapalooza month, Penguin reps have drummed up support at Hastings Entertainment, which has adopted The Shadow of the Wind for its summer book club. Pennie Clark Ianniciello, Costco's book buyer, has picked the title for her Pennie's Pick in the June issue of the Costco Connection, which goes to many of the wholesale club's members. The publication also has an interview with the author.
Last but not least, Penguin is resoliciting the many bookseller accounts that have already enjoyed handselling the book. The "task" may not be too difficult, considering some of the praise the book has won, as related by booksellers to Penguin.
First, here's a description of the book--which begins in 1945 in Barcelona--by Barbara Peters of Poisoned Pen, Scottsdale, Ariz., who made it a First Mystery Club Pick in 2004: "The young boy Daniel weeps for he cannot remember his mother's face. To console him, his father, an antiquarian bookseller, initiates Daniel into the secrets of the Cemetery of Forgotten Books, a vast (and uncatalogued) library of winding stacks and hidden treasures tended by Barcelona's guild of rare book dealers. Daniel, his father says, should choose whatever book that comes to hand; it will have special meaning for him. And indeed Daniel so loves the book he selects, The Shadow of the Wind by one Julian Carax, that he sets out to find the rest of Carax's work, only to learn that someone has been systematically destroying every single copy of every book Carax wrote. Daniel's may be the very last one. Fascinated by the blind Clara, daughter of the owner of a palatial city bookstore, he constructs a mirage world that with time, and his innocent quest after Carax, opens a door into one of Barcelona's darkest secrets."
Rick Zander of Carytown Books, Richmond, Va., called the book "an easy handseller no matter the customer's taste" and said he uses it as a "training tool. I have a new employee watch a senior staff member handsell The Shadow of the Wind. Then I have the new staff member read the book. The book is so outstanding that it gives the new employee the confidence to start handselling."
At the Galaxy Bookshop, Hardwick, Vt., the book "continues to be one of our top sellers by being on the staff picks table," according to Sandy Johnson. "Plus everyone else in the store knows how much I liked it, so if a customer's looking for a good novel, they'll say, 'Well, Sandy loved Shadow of the Wind and everyone she's recommended it to has loved it, too.' "
The Shadow of the Wind was the "book of the year" in 2004 at Nicola's Books in Ann Arbor, Mich., according to Nicola Rooney, who said that "it retains its place among our favorite novels of all time. . . . A book about the lure of books--what a treat."
The title was also the book of the year in 2004 at Queen Anne Avenue Books in Seattle, Wash. Tegan Tigani commented: "What I love about The Shadow of the Wind is that it's a novel that has it all--history, mystery, romance and gorgeous language--but is unlike any other book out there."