No more than 10 key personnel at Doubleday’s various offices have been allowed to read the novel. The publisher and its marketing partners, especially Amazon-which has some 70,000 copies on pre-order-have been ramping the buzz up to fever pitch.

On the other hand, having printed a record first run of five million hardcover copies of The Lost Symbol, Doubleday clearly expects something on the order of the second-highest-selling novel of all time. No matter how much effort author and publisher pour in this time, the new novel is hardly likely to equal those once-in-a-lifetime sales figures. Doubleday claims it’s been read by about 10 per cent of all the adult humans who can read. The Da Vinci Code has sold more than 80 million copies in 50 languages since its 2003 release. There is, of course, no compelling practical need for Brown, who vies for the title of world’s most famous author with Harry Potter creator J.K.

15 so far, publisher Doubleday has confirmed that Brown will appear on The Today Show, and talk to the Wall Street Journal and USA Today.

Dan Brown’s long-awaited follow-up to The Da Vinci Code goes on sale Sept. It’s still uncertain to what extent the Recluse of Exeter will emerge from the high-tech security of his rural New Hampshire home to help publicize The Lost Symbol.

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