You are viewing your 1 free article this month. Login to read more articles.
Waterstone's is exclusively selling the hardback of the long-awaited follow-up to 2001's bestseller Carter Beats the Devil when it is published in the summer. Sunnyside, by US author Glen David Gold, will be published by Sceptre in July and will be available only through the book chain until the trade paperback edition is released in the autumn. A B-format paperback will be published in 2010.
The novel will be promoted online and in-store, with additional offers for Waterstone's loyalty card-holders. Gold, who will visit the UK in July for publication, will be appearing at events throughout the chain. Toby Bourne, category manager for fiction at Waterstone's, said: "This is a unique opportunity for us and we will be doing everything within our power to make sure everyone—absolutely everyone—knows about it."
Sceptre said it was "keen to explore [a] wide range of new approaches to generate attention and sales" for its range of books, adding "the momentum generated by this exclusive deal will benefit the subsequent paperback edition, helping to build them into best-sellers for all".
Henry Jeffreys, publicity manager for Sceptre, said: "We decided to work exclusively with Waterstone's because it got so behind Carter—all the booksellers took it to their heart—and had the lion's share of the sales." He added that the new book was "similar territory, very funny although perhaps more serious" than Gold's début. "All those people who made Carter a bestseller will hopefully love Sunnyside as much— if not more," he said.
The new novel is set during the early days of silent films, with three intertwining storylines, involving Charlie Chaplin, a soldier fighting in France, and America's involvement in the Russian Revolution. Jeffreys said: "It's all about America's intervention in foreign affairs and its emergence as a global superpower, alongside the ascent of cinema. There are parallels with modern times because it's about the beginnings of America."
The book will be published by Knopf in the US in May