The promotion will be virtual for new "Hunger Games" novel

NEW YORK (AP) — When Suzanne Collins' “Mockingjay” was published a decade ago, Books of Wonder owner Peter Glassman put on a show: a late-night celebration for hundreds at his Manhattan store, with jugglers, costumes, a trivia wheel, cupcakes with the “Mockingjay” logo and a rare public reading from Collins herself.

For her new “Hunger Games” book, the prequel “The Ballad Of Songbirds and Snakes,” the debut at Books of Wonder and other stores will mostly be online.

“In normal times, we would have had a big party,” Glassman says. "And we might have tried to get an editor or someone else she works with to come, or tried to have an actor give a dramatic reading. But given the reality, we have to deal with what we're dealing with.”

“With any luck, we will sell a good number," he added, saying he planned a virtual party and reading, but not involving Collins.

Collins' new novel, which comes out next week, is the most high-profile release since the coronavirus shut down most of the country's bookstores in March. Unlike movies or plays, books can still be enjoyed as their creators intended them, but promotion now is mostly limited to what the Internet can offer or to the initiatives of booksellers who at best can only have a handful of customers in their stores at a given time.

Publishers have been postponing books to the summer and beyond, and “The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes” might seem a risk when the world seems a little too close to the horrors of Collins' fictional Panem. But Scholastic executive vice president Ellie Berger says that after “a lot of discussion about timing,” they stayed with Tuesday's scheduled release date.

Scholastic has announced a first printing of 2.5 million copies for English-language countries worldwide, and the book was in the top 10 on Amazon.com and...