Numbers, numbers, numberser the interval, this number is a measure of early returns. Now, early
returns are expected, but too high a rate of early returns can give
publishers the jitters.
That normally does not matter. The die is cast and things will be
clearer in a few months. However if there is a new book in negotia-
tion, then the "six-week," or whatever, can take on a significance that
outweighs its actual utility.
Aren't you glad you have Maalox on hand?
OTHER NUMBERS
Twenty-five thousand dollar advance] How many authors do you know
who got exactly that much for a novel? Probably a few. If that is
more than your largest advance then you no doubt envy them.
Well, you can stop. While $25,000 is a nice chunk of money, it
does not automatically mean that a book is going to be a hit or that
its publisher will get behind it. It does not even mean that anyone
outside the editorial department will have heard of the book before
it is published.
Why? Because in many companies $25,000 is the discretionary limit,
that is, the most an editorial director can authorize an editor to pay.
Sums above that level must usually be approved by a higher author-
ity, often a committee or "Pub Board" (not, alas, a drinking club but
a "Publishers Review Board").
When high-level approval must be obtained, curious things
begin to happen. Corporate executives start to ask questions. They
read. They get involved. The get excited, just like editors do ordi-
narily. The result is that the whole company, not just the acquiring
editor, feels it has a stake in the book's success.
How unusual!
So, I hope you have put your envy aside. Your friends with the
$25,000 advances are not on a level much different from yours. Like
you, they are struggling to survive in the jungle.
One hundred thousand copy first printing] Do you read Publishers
Weekly? If so, then you have probably noticed publishers' advertise-
ments that hype forthcoming novels with the promise of things like
"national advertising," "author tour," and "100,000 copy first print-
ing." However, promise is the operative word.