Guidebook author is lord of the cash-register rings

Guiding The Lord of the Rings fans to their favourite spots in New Zealand where the three movies were made is producing a satisfying feeling for Wanaka author Ian Brodie.

His Lord of the Rings Location Guidebook is on track to become one of the country's bestselling books.

The latest edition took the published total to 275,000 copies, with many sold to overseas tourists who want to visit at least some of the 100 locations where Peter Jackson made the three block-busting movies.

"It's bloody scary, isn't it," said Brodie, who expected to sell about 10,000 copies when the book was first published in 2002.

It has been followed by a coffee-table book on The Lord of the Rings and Brodie will publish another book this year on the process of making a movie.

The book, Cameras on Narnia, features scenes from the movie of C.S. Lewis' The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe to illustrate Brodie's guide to the various roles and processes that go into making a movie.

The book is aimed at students and teenagers but publisher HarperCollins says it will have wide appeal because of the movie and should sell to an international audience.

Brodie said the Rings guidebook was still in the list of bestsellers and would continue to be published while there was a demand.

Most sales were to tourists, many of whom came to see the countryside and landscape they first saw in the movies.

"It was a fun thing to do for me as a Lord of the Rings fan," said Brodie, who had a small role as a Gondorian bread salesman in the third of the movies, The Return of the King.

His guidebook joins all-time bestsellers such as Alison Holst's Marvellous Muffins, Michael King's History of New Zealand and the Edmonds Cookery Book.

- NZPA