"People want it," said Rita Maggio, owner of Booktowne, Manasquan, N.J., referring to one of her store's bestsellers, the coffee-table book When Sandy Hit: The Storm That Forever Changed New Jersey. "People usually buy three or four copies. They want to give it to relatives, to people they know who used to come to the Jersey Shore."
And so Maggio was concerned last month as stocks of the book began to dry up, and there were no plans for a second printing.
The $39.95 commemorative tome, written and edited by journalists at the Star-Ledger, was published on January 14 by Pediment Publishing, Battle Ground, Wash., which specializes in publishing coffee-table books with media partners. The book provides an historical overview of the hurricane that hit the eastern seaboard in late October, including how towns and cities on the Jersey Shore prepared for the storm, pictures of the destruction that it wreaked and the ensuing recovery efforts, as well as tributes to first responders and those who lost their lives. Initially, neither the Star-Ledger nor Pediment planned for another print run.
"I was so surprised that they were not reprinting," said Maggio. "People see [the book] as historical. They're upset when they go through it, but they want a copy of it. They want to remember. Some people cry when they look at it. We've sold hundreds of copies. For a small store, that's a lot. People are still asking for them."
Such demand surpassed the expectations of the Star-Ledger. According to Doug Hutton, the newspaper's marketing manager, there was some debate about whether or not to order another print run. The Star-Ledger now plans to print another 6,200 copies.
Although Booktowne was not physically damaged by the storm, it was closed for 11 days. Beachfront homes in Manasquan were all severely damaged; there are approximately 120 homes to which people have yet to return. And further south along the shore, towns such as Bay Head and Point Pleasant still look like war zones, as Maggio put it. A portion of the book's proceeds will go to the Community Foundation N.J.'s Hurricane Sandy Relief Fund. --Alex Mutter