Bestseller Bytes

by Daisy Maryles, Religion BookLine -- Publishers Weekly, 5/21/2008

Dead Heat marks the first time Tyndale used a laydown date—March 18—for Joel Rosenberg. It is now up to 203,000 copies after seven printings. Rosenberg has earned a reputation for writing stories "ripped from tomorrow's headlines." His latest portrays a U.S. so distracted by a hotly contested presidential campaign that it is blindsided by a terrorist attack.

Pico Iyer wanted The Open Road: The Global Journey of the Fourteenth Dalai Lama released this year. In a q&a for his publisher, he explains why: "...[T]his is the year of the Beijing Olympics, and, many believe, perhaps the last moment when world attention might turn to Tibet before the country as we know it is gone forever. The Dalai Lama has been saying for several years now that, unless something is done soon, the geographical entity known as Tibet will be wiped off the map in a few years."

Carl Anderson, Supreme Knight of the Knights of Columbus, drew an international audience in Rome for an April 1 press conference, with more than 40 journalists in attendance. The Knights of Columbus have been tireless promoters for A Civilization of Love, leading it to national bestsellerdom (it's been on the New York Times list for six weeks in a row). First printing was 18,000 copies; HarperOne reports 60,000 copies after six reprints.

In an upcoming feature on the popularity of Amish novels (PW Religion Update, June 2), Bethany's Dave Horton, v-p of editorial for fiction, notes: "The Amish lifestyle encapsulates many things we find attractive—a strong sense of spirituality, a close-knit community, and the ability to remain relatively constant in a changing culture." When Beverly Lewis first published her novel The Shunning a decade ago, there was no Amish fiction subgenre. The Shunning has sold 766,000 copies, contributing to the 4.5 million total copies sold of Lewis's Amish-related adult fiction. First printing for The Forbidden is 350,000.

Don Piper's Web site on 90 Minutes in Heaven is filled with information on heaven, from how to get there to what people wear: "The people I saw in heaven were wearing magnificent clothing. It was some type of brilliant cloth. It appeared to be like a robe, and it was quite beautiful, pure in its beauty." His book is enjoying heavenly sales; there are more than three million copies in print for all editions.