NY, Persea, (1983). The first novel by the author of the Pulitzer Prize-winning The Mambo Kings Play Songs of Love. Hijuelos, an unknown writer being published by one of the smaller New York publishing houses, on discovering the small amount of money the publisher had earmarked for promoting his book, mounted a personal ad campaign, buying space on subway placards to spread word of the novel and help boost sales. Between the effects that his efforts had directly, and the publicity that he got when Publishers Weekly and other media organs found out about his unusual marketing strategy and publicized the strategy itself rather than the book, his novel got a second life, gained a second round of publicity, and went into a second printing. That his next novel was published by a larger publisher, with a sizable first printing and a good-sized advertising budget -- and went on to win the Pulitzer Prize -- is directly attributable to that extra effort he made to support this, his first book. Fine in a fine dust jacket. [#913095] SOLD