Despite last month's successful efforts to remove all copies of Dan Brown's The Da Vinci Code from bookstores, the book continues to sell. Da Vinci Code readers have been exiting bookstores with one or two copies in their bags, even when their credit card receipts show that they've purchased three or four copies. Industry experts are at a loss to explain the book's sustained popularity, but Saks Fifth Avenue has reported that "Dan Brown books are a handy accessory" and are "thicker and more convincing than a coffee-table book."
Umberto Eco is still awaiting his cut from the book's obscene profits.
Posted by DrMabuse at March 9, 2005 11:07 AM"It just proves that people want more substance in their books. They like a good, meaty read," says Laurence J. Kirshbaum, chairman of the Time Warner Book Group.
What's the Internet-equivalent of a spit-take?
I met Doubleday's Rubin last summer and I notice that he's revised his soundbyte from "Totally surprised by the book's success" to "Never expected historic success." I guess a first-print run of 85,000 copies and tens of thousands of ARCs doesn't usually equal "total surprise."
Posted by: tj at March 9, 2005 01:04 PM