In Publishers Weekly, Sara Nelson, the editor in chief, wrote that “this overspending is worrisome,” and noted that “best-seller lists are loaded with books that even the most optimistic publisher could never have predicted would become the blockbusters they did - think ‘Marley and Me’ or ‘The Lovely Bones’ or, for that matter, ‘Water for Elephants.’ ”įollowing up on an unforeseen success - particularly after receiving a news-making advance - is often tricky. The deal caused a stir in publishing circles. Gruen signed the multimillion-dollar deal with Spiegel & Grau, a new imprint of Random House that is run by Cindy Spiegel and Julie Grau, editors and publishers who turned “The Kite Runner” into a breakout sensation when they were at Riverhead Books, an imprint of the Penguin Group.

Last fall, on the basis of a 12-page summary of “Ape House,” Ms. Despite some mixed reviews, readers flocked. The publisher planned a first print run of 20,000 copies, but as independent booksellers who read early galleys embraced the novel, the plans mushroomed. Water for Elephants has become a word-of-mouth favorite.Īlgonquin paid just $55,000 for the manuscript in 2004.

“I didn’t want it to come to an end,” she said.

Monica Morrissey, a 38-year-old elementary school teacher from East Hardwick, Vt., was looking for a good summer read when friends recommended “Water for Elephants.” She finished it in two days. “It seems to have a whole new life in paperback,” she said. Linda Ramsdell, owner of the Galaxy Bookshop in Hardwick, Vt., said she quickly sold out the first 10 copies she ordered and ordered 24 more, which are selling briskly. Gruen’s novel, a word-of-mouth favorite, still has momentum. Unlike other paperback blockbusters, like “The Memory Keeper’s Daughter” by Kim Edwards, which sold modestly in hardcover, “Water for Elephants” spent 12 weeks on the New York Times hardcover fiction best-seller list and sold 248,000 copies, according to BookScan. It has sold 217,000 copies in paperback, according to Nielsen BookScan, which represents about 70 percent of sales. 1 on the Barnes & Noble trade paperback best-seller list. 1 on the best-seller list of Book Sense, a marketing affiliate of an association of independent bookstores, since its paperback edition went on sale in April. (This Sunday, “Elephants” falls to second place, but remains ahead of the Oprah books.) 1 on the New York Times paperback fiction best-seller list, edging out “The Road” by Cormac McCarthy and “Middlesex” by Jeffrey Eugenides, both picks for Oprah’s Book Club.

Water for elephants by sara gruen