86 replies to this topic

[Righty007]

Now on the CBn main page...

'Devil May Care' Enters The US Book Charts

Solid debut for Sebastian Faulks' James Bond novel

Post your predictions on how bad Devil May Care will be marketed in the United States.

Here are some likely scenarios:

Entertainment Weekly and Time will be the only magazines to review the novel. Both reviews will be favorable but few readers will be able to find the review hidden inside the magazines.

In the nation's bookstores, employees will throw up between 2 to 20 copies of the book in an obscure location on the eve of it's May 28th. Ian Fleming's Bond novels will be nowhere in sight because of course selling the books near each other wouldn't make any sense.

Blossoming Bond fans will come in to purchase Devil May Care as well as a Fleming novel or two but will only find a copy of the Casino Royale tie-in and Doctor No on the self.

[zencat]

Nice thread, Captain Bringdown.

[Righty007]

Nice thread, Captain Bringdown.

It's not my fault Americans get screwed consistently when it comes to Bond novels. I once saw an ad for SilverFin in Nintendo Power but that's it. How sad.

[zencat]

Yeah, you're right Righty, it's a shame US publishers haven't offered up even a fraction of the promotion we see in the UK. But it does help prove the argument that if you market a Bond book properly you'll have a bestseller...and if you don't, you won't. The Young Bond series is the best evidence of that.

But I'm not counting DMC and Doubleday out. We have seen some nice stories in the press, 100 of the Bentley specials are headed for the U.S., and there is this U.S. website. It's clearly not going to be equivalent to Penguin's UK push, but I don't think it's going to be ignored as badly as past continuation novels.

[Kilroy6644]

I haven't seen any promotional stuff at all. Of the two bookstores I frequent, only one has any of the Fleming novels. The other had CR for a while, but I haven't seen it lately. But I reserved my copy of DMC from them.

[Double-0-7]

I looked for one of the Young Bond novels at the local Barnes & Noble. They didn't have any of those and had about half of the Fleming Bonds - but I had to search to find them.

I doubt DMC will be well-marketed, but Amazon will send my copy on release day, so it won't really affect my enjoyment of the book.

[BlackFire]

I just hope the book comes to Mexico.. or at least I can order it.

[K1Bond007]

But I'm not counting DMC and Doubleday out. We have seen some nice stories in the press, 100 of the Bentley specials are headed for the U.S., and there is this U.S. website. It's clearly not going to be equivalent to Penguin's UK push, but I don't think it's going to be ignored as badly as past continuation novels.

Considering the print run in the US is 250K copies, I think they're obviously looking for something that Bond hasn't seen here in a long time - perhaps never. I would expect a fairly good push in the next few days from Doubleday.

I looked for one of the Young Bond novels at the local Barnes & Noble. They didn't have any of those and had about half of the Fleming Bonds - but I had to search to find them.

I doubt DMC will be well-marketed, but Amazon will send my copy on release day, so it won't really affect my enjoyment of the book.

Keep up with the news. Barnes & Noble bought a ton of copies. They're even quoted as saying they expect the book to be a blockbuster and definite bestseller. I don't know how well the book will be marketed, but on May 28th when you walk into B&N, I bet it's sitting there right at the front.

Fleming's are always in and out and at my B&N and they were sold out of DoD last I was there. They had good space in the "young adult" section though - the week before the release of DoD I happened to be there and I only barely found the books. So it was an improvement.

[Loomis]

Americans don't even care about the Bond films*, so it's no surprise that a Bond novel by some stiff-assed Brit no one's heard of called Sebastian Fox or whatever is gonna sink like a stone in the States. It's like trying to interest the British in baseball or Garth Brooks. It's just the way it is. As Bond fans, we should be used to this by now.

*At least, not compared to people in other countries.

[zencat]

Oh, I think Americans care about Bond. I think they love Bond. Think...I know they love Bond! But I don't think Americans revere Bond the way Brits do. Bond is entertainment, not a national treasure. And only them there educated folk ever hear of this feller named Fox.

[Johnboy007]

I have not seen any kind of advertising yet, but I don't imagine it will be as bad as Righty described. Guardian Angel was one of their special "side of shelf books" (I have no idea what you actually call them) and had a decent number of copies. I can only imagine a "proper" James Bond book will receive more attention.

It is as zencat said. We love James Bond, but we don't revere/worship him.

[zencat]

It is as zencat said. We love James Bond, but we don't revere/worship him.

That honor is reserved for Rambo.

[Jim]

It sells on a number of levels - here, it's not just some James Bond but of interest amongst the right-thinking as a literary whimsy by a credible author.

I expect that Mr Faulks will be extremely disappointed if this book doesn't work in the USA.

[K1Bond007]

Oh, I think Americans care about Bond. I think they love Bond. Think...I know they love Bond! But I don't think Americans revere Bond the way Brits do. Bond is entertainment, not a national treasure. And only them there educated folk ever hear of this feller named Fox.

I think the series is just long and sometimes undistinguished so the books and the films just got kind of common and stagnant. I fully expect (at this point in time) Craig's second outing to gross well over Casino Royale's haul mainly because of the success of that movie as a rebirth of the franchise. Likewise a new book by a respectable and established author (although not entirely well-known in the US) could boost sales of the books also given that it's Fleming's Centenary.

I expect that Mr Faulks will be extremely disappointed if this book doesn't work in the USA.

I've always thought Faulks was kind of using Bond as a spring board into the United States. Attaching his name to Ian Fleming on a well-written Bond novel could get him some valuable name recognition. Engleby has only sold 4K copies here. Even Bond at his worse did 3 times that, but given the order, Doubleday has an apparent optimistic outlook.

[zencat]

Current sales rank on Amazon UK: #32

Current sales rank on Amazon US: #3,581

[Righty007]

Current sales rank on Amazon US: #3,581

And I thought I was Captain Bringdown!

Devil May Care is #30 among the Action & Adventure genre though...

[dinovelvet]

Devil May Care is #30 among the Action & Adventure genre though...

That's even worse! Look at some of the crap that's ranked higher...Halo spinoff fiction? "The Atlantis Prophecy"...?! Generic no-name airport novels? I'm assuming business will pick up when the book is actually released and all, but still. Jeez.

[Single-O-Seven]

Amazon.ca has it at #4,563 overall, and #36 in the Action/Adventure category.

[Qwerty]

Guardian Angel was one of their special "side of shelf books" (I have no idea what you actually call them) and had a decent number of copies. I can only imagine a "proper" James Bond book will receive more attention.

That's somewhat promising. Wish it was the case in one of the Borders stores near me though - I had to search through the Mystery section to only find two copies hidden at the bottom.

But still... we'll see what they do for Devil May Care.

[Righty007]

Guardian Angel was one of their special "side of shelf books" (I have no idea what you actually call them) and had a decent number of copies. I can only imagine a "proper" James Bond book will receive more attention.

But still... we'll see what they do for Devil May Care.

Or not do.

[Qwerty]

I'm going to give them some benefit of the doubt.

[Single-O-Seven]

I'm surprised the Bond books are so badly marketed in the States. In Canada, every major bookstore has a row of Fleming novels - some times the whole set. Higson's books, too, are always in stock, but recently the Weinberg books haven't been around. But they do put them out on their UK release dates. I'm not sure if there will be any big promotion over DMC, but I suspect the stores will carry a nice stock of them to begin with.

[terminus]

I worked for Indigo, a bookstore in Canada for those non-Canadians, at the time CR was released and had to suggest to my manager that we get in the Fleming novels.

We did, however, have several copies of Silverfin and Bloodfever at the time and I singlehandedly sold all of them

[spynovelfan]

I'm surprised the Bond books are so badly marketed in the States. In Canada, every major bookstore has a row of Fleming novels - some times the whole set. Higson's books, too, are always in stock, but recently the Weinberg books haven't been around. But they do put them out on their UK release dates. I'm not sure if there will be any big promotion over DMC, but I suspect the stores will carry a nice stock of them to begin with.

Many books published in the UK are published in Canada as a matter of course - the UK rights are sold with the Canadian (and other) rights bundled in. This is not the case for the US, which entails a separate deal.

[sharpshooter]

I worked for Indigo, a bookstore in Canada for those non-Canadians, at the time CR was released and had to suggest to my manager that we get in the Fleming novels.

We did, however, have several copies of Silverfin and Bloodfever at the time and I singlehandedly sold all of them

Good on you! Sign this man up ASAP as the US Bond marketing officer.

[Kilroy6644]

I was just at Barnes & Noble today and was surprised to see that they had all of Fleming's books, and in order at that. They also had three of the Young Bonds.

[Righty007]

I was just at Barnes & Noble today and was surprised to see that they had all of Fleming's books, and in order at that. They also had three of the Young Bonds.

Usually "in order" at bookstores means Doctor No comes first!

I'm impressed with your Barnes & Noble. They must have a Bond fan on staff.

[Kilroy6644]

I'm impressed with your Barnes & Noble. They must have a Bond fan on staff.

They must be new, then . Uusually when I go there, I head straight to Fleming and put the books in order, and they're always a few books short of the full series. Today was a pleasant surprise.

[clublos]

Current sales rank on Amazon UK: #32

Current sales rank on Amazon US: #3,581

I may have played a hand in this: I pre-ordered through the UK and plan to go to a B&N on the morning of the 28th.

But for the promotion side of things, ever since the books were rereleased with the new covers I've seen them regularly stocked here in the Atlanta area.

[ACE]

Perhaps Doubleday will use the immense UK push and publicity to slingshot Sebastian Faulks' Bond in the US. Because of Faulks' low level status in the American consciousness, I'm pretty sure a major reason he agreed to do this was to Trojan horse his own books into America via Bond. Same reason Gardner did it.

Any publicity and moderate sales would be worth more that the treatment Raymond Benson and the later Gardners received.

And remember, worldwide rights appear to have been snapped up - no mean feat in publishing. Peter Janson-Smith, Fleming's agent and chief navigator of Glidrose, realised the value of foreign sales early in his tenure.

The Devil isn't the only one who cares 28th May 2-Double-0-8!

As the posters say, Bond Is Back!
Perhaps, the New York subway could look like this...