Landers Gives Bladder Book a Big Boost Up Sales Ladder

Sales of a self-help book about bladder control had been slow. Then Ann Landers mentioned it in her column, and the book’s publisher was flooded with more orders in one day than it got the previous 10 months.

The Hopkins Press said Monday’s mail brought 18,000 orders for “Staying Dry, A Practical Guide to Bladder Control.” It was the largest single-day order ever for a Hopkins book, the publisher said.

Landers mentioned the book last week in her daily syndicated column. About 22,000 readers of the column have written for copies of the book so far, the publisher said.

“The thing that kills me about this is that it is literally the book that nobody wanted to hear about,” said Bob Oeste, promotions manager for Hopkins Press.

The book, first printed in November, 1989, had sold 12,000 copies up until last week, he said. Last week, 3,000 copies of the book sat in storage.

On Monday, Hopkins asked a Virginia printer to rush an additional 30,000 copies into print, he said.

The book details treatment procedures for incontinence.