The hardback edition of The Time Traveler's Wife was published in the United States in September 2003 by MacAdam/Cage and in the United Kingdom by Random House on 1 January 2004. MacAdam/Cage initiated an "extensive marketing drive", including advertising in The New York Times and The New Yorker and a promotional book tour by Niffenegger. As a result, the novel debuted at number nine on the New York Times bestseller list. After popular crime writer Scott Turow, whose wife is a friend of Niffenegger, endorsed it on The Today Show, the first print run of 15,000 sold out and 100,000 more copies were printed.Rebecca Caldwell, "A first novel anointed by Brad and Jennifer", The Globe and Mail (18 November 2003). LexisNexis (subscription required). Retrieved 25 April 2009. In Britain, the book received a boost from its choice as a Richard & Judy book club recommendation—nearly 45,000 copies were sold in one week. It was named the 2003 Amazon.com Book of the Year.Kate Zambreno, "Woman on the Edge of Time", The Independent (23 January 2004). Retrieved 25 April 2009. A December 2003 article in The Observer reported that although "a tiny minority of American reviewers" felt that the novel was "gimmicky", it was still "a publishing sensation"."Lawrence Donegan, "America's most wanted: The Time Traveler's Wife, written by an unknown author and launched by a tiny publisher, will be the must-read for 2004" , The Observer (14 December 2003). Retrieved 25 April 2009. At that point, the novel had been sold to publishers in 15 countries. As of March 2009, it had sold almost 1.5 million copies in the United States and 1 million in the United Kingdom.Luke Leitch, "You're only as good as your second novel ", The Times (17 March 2009). Retrieved 10 May 2009. The success of The Time Traveler's Wife prompted almost every major publishing firm to attempt to acquire Niffenegger's second novel, Her Fearful Symmetry, which has been called "one of the most eagerly sought-after works in recent publishing history". It garnered her an advance of US$5 million from Scribner's.Staff, "Blockbusters back from the dead ", The New Zealand Herald (31 March 2009). Retrieved 25 April 2009.
