Penguin Group (USA) Weekly Update - 10/9:

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Eat, Pray, Love Author Elizabeth Gilbert to Appear on "The Oprah Winfrey Show"

Elizabeth Gilbert’s #1 New York Times bestseller Eat, Pray, Love (Penguin) was already selling like wildfire across the U.S. before Elizabeth was featured on last Friday’s “Oprah Winfrey Show.” Oprah was clearly moved by the book and, in conversation with Elizabeth over the course of the show, drew out personal elements of Eat, Pray, Love that made it one of the most compelling interviews she has ever conducted. In the wake of this program airing, sales of Eat, Pray, Love climbed to new heights, with key accounts reporting record sales numbers for the week ending 10/6. Close to 2.3 million copies of Eat, Pray, Love have been shipped since Penguin published the title in trade paperback in February. More than 1 million copies have been shipped in the past five weeks.

Ken Follett’s World Without End Featured in USA Today Cover Story as the Highly Anticipated Book Arrives in Stores Across the U.S.

Dutton author Ken Follett is featured in the USA Today cover story in the "Life" section of today’s edition, which offers insights into Follett’s illustrious career and the process of writing World Without End, which Entertainment Weekly gives a laudatory A- review. These high-profile media hits coincide with Dutton publishing the title in the U.S. today, with booksellers everywhere featuring this historic sequel to Follett’s Pillars of the Earth.

Be sure to catch Follett’s in-store appearance on Wednesday, October 9, 2007 in New York, where he will be talking about his new book at Barnes & Noble, Lincoln Center, at 7:30 pm. He will then be traveling to Philadelphia, Washington, DC, Birmingham, Chicago, Milwaukee, Dallas, Los Angeles, and San Francisco. Noteworthy off-site events include the Smithsonian, the Ft. Worth Author Series, and Writer's Bloc in Los Angeles.

The publication of World Without End has been a true international publishing event. Follett started his international tour two weeks ago in Italy, where the book went to #1, with phenomenally attended author appearances. His tour continued last week in the UK and, following this week’s U.S. leg, moves on to South Africa, Amsterdam, Germany, Austria, Spain and Germany.

Bestseller List for the Second Week In A RowPenguin Young Readers Group Scores Seven Bestsellers on The New York Times

For the second week in a row, the Penguin Young Readers Group has an impressive seven books on The New York Times bestseller lists, a record for the division. This week, on the children's picture book list, Cowboy and Octopus by Jon Scieszka, illustrated by Lane Smith (Viking) is at #3 in its fourth week; I Miss You Everyday written and illustrated by Simms Taback (Viking) is #5 in its second week; Three Snow Bears by Jan Brett (Putnam) moves up to #6 in its second week; and Llama Llama Mad at Mama written and illustrated by Anna Dewdney (Viking) is at #10, also in its second week We're Off to Find the Witch's House by Mr. Kreib, illustrated by R.W. Alley (Puffin) moves up to #5 on the children's paperback list in its second week, and The Looking Glass Wars by Frank Beddor (Speak) is at #10 in its third week on that same list. Finally, Seeing Redd by Frank Beddor (Dial Books for Young Readers) is at #7 on the children's chapter book list in its sixth week.

The United States Postal Service announced several new 2008 stamps on September 25th including one for Charles W. Chesnutt, a Penguin Classics author. With the 31st stamp in its Black Heritage series, the U.S. Postal Service honors Charles W. Chesnutt (1858-1932), a pioneering writer recognized today as a major innovator and singular voice among turn-of-the-century literary realists who probed the color line in American life. In novels such as The Marrow of Tradition and short stories such as those collected in The Conjure Woman, he probed the color line in American life.

Art director Howard Paine of Delaplane, VA, wanted a stamp that suggested Chesnutt's intelligence and dignity; the portrait painted by stamp artist Kazuhiko Sano of Mill Valley, CA, was based on a 1908 photograph from the collection of Fisk University.

New On the Penguin Website

The first MLB postseason pitch has been thrown and the competition gets heated on the road to the World Series. Step up to bat and test your baseball knowledge with the quick quiz in our special MLB playoffs Entertainment feature. Find the answers, and buff up on all the stats and behind-the-scenes info that every true fan should know in Great Baseball Feats, Facts and Firsts (2007 Edition) by David Nemec.

It's not easy to find and achieve your passion, but it is possible and Janet and Chris Attwood want to help you on your way. The authors of The Passion Test: The Effortless Path to Discovering Your Destiny are our special guests on the Penguin site this week: Hear them on the podcast and check them out as our guest bloggers right here! Don't settle for just "getting by" when what's missing from your life could be right in front of you. Start by tuning in to the Podcast today.

You can still listen to Michael Gates Gill discussing his memoir, How Starbucks Saved My Life, on the Penguin Podcast.

Three new debuts for Penguin Group (USA) on The New York Times bestseller list for the week of September October 14th: Shoot Him If He Runs by Stuart Woods (G. P. Putnam's Sons) is at #5 on the hardcover fiction list; Lover Unbound by J.R. Ward (Signet) is at #2 on the mass-market paperback fiction list; and Dark Celebration by Christine Feehan (Jove) is at #12 on that same list.

Here are more bestseller highlights for the week of October 14th:

On the hardcover fiction list, A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini (Riverhead) is at #4 in its nineteenth week; Dead Heat by Dick Francis and Felix Francis (G. P. Putnam's Sons) is at #9 in its second week; and Pontoon by Garrison Keillor (Viking) is at #13 in its third week.

On the hardcover nonfiction list, The Age of Turbulence by Alan Greenspan (Penguin Press) is #1 in its second week, and Louder than Words by Jenny McCarthy (Dutton) moves up to #3 in its second week.

On the trade paperback fiction list, The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini (Riverhead) is at #3 in its 134th week; while The Memory Keeper's Daughter by Kim Edwards (Penguin) follows right behind at #4 in its 67th week; and Love Walked In by Marisa de los Santos (Plume) rises to #15 in its fourth week.

On the paperback nonfiction list, Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert (Penguin) extends its run at #1 to 19 weeks in a row in its 36th overall week; Three Cups of Tea by Greg Mortenson and David Oliver Relin (Penguin) moves up to #4 in its 35th week; The Omnivore's Dilemma by Michael Pollan (Penguin) holds at #7 in its fifth week; and A Whole New Mind by Daniel H. Pink (Riverhead) rises to #14 in its third week.

On the advice, how-to and miscellaneous paperback list, Getting Things Done by David Allen (Penguin) returns to the list, at #9 in its third week.

In the young readers sector, on the children's picture book list, Cowboy and Octopus by Jon Scieszka (Viking) is at #3 in its fourth week; I Miss You Everyday written and illustrated by Simms Taback (Viking) is #5 in its second week; Three Snow Bears by Jan Brett (Putnam) moves up to #6 in its second week; and Llama Llama Mad at Mama written and illustrated by Anna Dewdney (Viking) is at #10, also in its second week. We're Off to Find the Witch's House by Mr. Kreib, illustrated by R.W. Alley (Puffin) moves up to #5 on the children's paperback list in its second week, and The Looking Glass Wars by Frank Beddor (Speak) is at #10 in its tenth week on that same list. Finally, Seeing Redd by Frank Beddor (Dial Books for Young Readers) is at #7 on the children's chapter book list in its sixth week.

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