NIGHT SCHOOL: The Story of a Bestseller

C.J. Daugherty’s début, NIGHT SCHOOL, was published with great excitement by Oetinger in Germany at the end of July 2012.  Rapidly selling 17,000 copies in the first three days of sales, it has already shot straight into the extended Spiegel Bestseller list.  Whilst reading NIGHT SCHOOL, we are constantly made to ask ourselves:  ‘Who can you trust when no one seems to be telling the truth?’  Oetinger’s campaign to acquire the German rights started with two simple words ‘TRUST US’.   They competed in a seven-way auction and won the German rights for the first two books of the series in a significant six figure deal.  Following this impressive start, Oetinger gave the book a phenomenal launch, which you can see in this fantastic German website dedicated to the entire NIGHT SCHOOL series.

As well as offering readers tons of exclusive material, including Cimmeria Academy’s ground maps as well as NIGHT SCHOOL themed wallpaper, extra chapters, e-cards and a facebook group, Oetinger created a gripping trailer which has already notched up thousands of views on YouTube:

Atom, an imprint of Little, Brown, published NIGHT SCHOOL in the UK in January 2012, and so far it has been the third YA bestselling début of the year.  NIGHT SCHOOL was the biggest YA crime & thriller at the 2011 Frankfurt Book Fair, selling into 20 different territories.  It has also been published in France and Spain to great critical acclaim, and most of the other 18 foreign publishers are publishing in their languages this autumn.  We are also awaiting eagerly  the US edition which Katherine Tegen, an imprint of HarperCollins US, will be publishing in the summer of 2013.

C.J. Daugherty has been delighted with the German success:  “WOW! I’m so thrilled and excited that German readers are responding to Night School and relating to its characters, and to the setting in an English boarding school.  I’ve also been blown away by how innovative and fun Oetinger’s work has been spreading the word about the series to new readers. They’ve made it a beautiful, collectable series. I’m so grateful to everyone involved!”

NIGHT SCHOOL is a five-book psychological thriller series, set entirely at a boarding school in the English countryside.  Allie Sheridan is a troubled middle-class girl sent away to Cimmeria Academy, which she believes is just a posh reform school.  She couldn’t be more wrong.  These students are participating in secret night school activities. Suddenly it seems clear that nobody has ever told Allie the truth about anything…

NIGHT SCHOOL appeals to both adults and young adults.  Follow these links to purchase the UK edition of  NIGHT SCHOOL or the Kindle edition.