As Film Nears, Publisher Goes Into ‘Da Vinci’ Mode

Prepare for the onslaught: For anyone who’s somehow missed picking up one of the 43 million hardcover copies of “The Da Vinci Code” that have been sold around the world in the last three years, the publisher is finally getting around to releasing the paperback -- in a big way.

On March 28, Random House will be placing 5 million softcover copies of Dan Brown’s conspiracy-minded religious thriller in an array of outlets well beyond your neighborhood bookstore, including drugstores, supermarkets, gas station convenience stores, airport shops, truck stops and fast-food chains.

It’s by far the largest first printing for an adult softcover fiction title -- by comparison, the hugely successful “Harry Potter” paperback editions have had first printings in the neighborhood of 2 million. But publishing observers say hordes of readers with an appetite for the tale of Renaissance sleuthing and Vatican skulduggery may still be out there.

“Five million paperbacks is a lot, but I think they’ll do fine with this,” said Sara Nelson, editor in chief of Publishers Weekly, a book-publishing trade magazine. “They’ll go after the people who don’t want to spend $22.95 on a hardcover, and there are a lot of people like that out there.”

Although the larger $14.95 “trade paperback” version will be sold mainly in bookstores, the $7.99 mass-market paperbacks are being aimed at so-called impulse buyers, the kind who don’t hang out in bookstores. Whether these readers will be enticed by Brown’s devotion to “the sacred feminine” in early Christian theology, and his notion that Jesus and Mary Magdalene tied the knot (and had a child), remains to be seen. But at the very busy Petro truck stop in Bordentown, N.J., Louie, the manager, who did not want to give his last name, said his customers “would go for a book like this.... There’s all sorts of books that sell here.”

Meanwhile, Barnes & Noble, the nation’s largest bookselling chain, is clearing major shelf space. “We held a very long meeting to decide how many of the paperbacks we would buy,” said Sessalee Hensley, the New York-based fiction buyer for the chain. “And the number we decided on was staggering compared to other books. It’s the largest buy I’ve made for one book in 20 years.”

Why such a long wait for the “Da Vinci Code” paperback? And why now? Publishers concede that the May 19 release of the film version, starring Tom Hanks, shaped their strategy. For three years “there wasn’t a need to rush into paperback, because the book has done so well,” said Suzanne Herz, associate publisher for Doubleday, the Random House imprint that released the hardcover. “But the movie gave us a unique marketing opportunity.”

For its part, Sony Pictures will be launching a national publicity campaign tied to the March 28 paperback publication date. As the books hit the stores, a new trailer for the film will appear, along with outdoor advertising, executives said. “We’re working closely with Random House to make sure that everything we do together builds up anticipation for the movie,” said Valerie Van Galder, Sony’s president of marketing. “What’s good for the book is good for the movie.”

No one involved seems concerned that “The Da Vinci Code” is under attack in a London courtroom, where the authors of a nonfiction book, “Holy Blood and Holy Grail,” have charged that Brown borrowed key ideas as well as the book’s structure from them.

Last week, the plaintiffs were forced to admit they had significantly overstated the extent to which Brown’s book allegedly borrowed from their own. On Monday, the reclusive author appeared in court and rejected their claims outright, calling them “absurd” and “completely fanciful.” Although it is impossible to know how the British judge will rule, the trial seems to be going well for Brown, at least so far.

Meanwhile, the Catholic League has taken out full-page newspaper advertisements demanding that director Ron Howard remind audiences that his film and the supposed “historical secrets” in it are fiction.

“Everything contributes to the publicity,” said Hensley, with Barnes & Noble. “Every time there’s a squib about the book in the news, or there’s a short piece about Tom Hanks filming the movie in London, the sales immediately pick up.”

Paperback “tie-in” editions, geared to the release of a film, have become a dependable staple of book marketing. Indeed, publishers vie for paperback rights when acquiring a hardcover title because there is always the chance that a successful cinematic version will create favorable buzz and spur extra paperback sales for them.

Usually, just before a movie based on a literary source makes its debut, the tie-in paperback appears. But “The Da Vinci Code,” like the “Harry Potter” books, has hardcover sales that have remained huge, even as the paperback publication approaches.

Hensley and her colleagues at Barnes & Noble have been preparing a major in-store campaign, calling it “The March to the Movie.” Executives at Random House and Sony Pictures began devising their strategy months ago.

Few dreamed that Brown’s book would take off so quickly after its publication in March 2003. Doubleday officials had high hopes, however, and they printed a whopping 11,000 advance copies for critics and booksellers. “The Da Vinci Code” sold more than 6,000 books its first day, and more than 23,000 its first week, shooting to the top of adult bestseller lists.

Brown, a largely unknown author of three previous books, sold the film rights to then-Columbia Pictures for an estimated $6 million, according to published reports. The book and the movie led largely separate lives until late last year, when Sony settled on the May 19 release date. Then New York and Hollywood began working together.

“The movie company presented us with many of the different art images they would be using for promotional purposes,” said Anne Messitte, publisher of Vintage and Anchor Books. “We wanted to work in tandem with them to present an ideal visual cover for the paperback.... Eventually, we arrived at a package that relates both to the art for the paperback book and the images that will be part of the movie’s marketing.”

The resulting design blends the hardcover’s “deep, distinctive Da Vinci red” with a spray of cryptic words and codes, creating a “new but familiar” image, she said.

Doubleday picked the March 28 publication date because “we wanted to be sure that we had a good month-and-a-half lead-up to the film,” Messitte said.

Sony officials are hoping for the same kind of book-to-movie magic.

“We’ve done marketing work with paperback tie-ins before,” said Sony’s Van Galder. “But the difference here is you’re talking about a true publishing phenomenon. When you work with a book that’s penetrated the culture, you’ve got a big foot in the door.”