HI, yes, exactly! I tend to think that she wasn't being rude, per se...probably what I was reading touched a raw nerve in her and she didn't know how to handle it well. Oh, what can you do?! Anyway, yes, I agree with you.

The range of books is really all over the place but, yes, with a NY publisher you have to sell a lot more than if your book is published with a university or small press. Let's say with a midlist book, in terms of NY publishing, probably a range would be 15,000 - 30,000, along those lines? And that's just a midlist book.

A large press run for a university or small press is probably about 4000 books...but more likely is that a first printing would be closer to 2000 - 3000. (And poetry books much less!) But if the book does well, then they'd quickly do a new print run. My first memoir, with the University of Georgia Press, was (last I heard which was a few years ago) in its 8th or 9th print run, I think. I can't remember, but it would be more than that now.

And with "Love Sick," the book published with Norton, it went into paperback in conjunction with the Lifetime movie. So that was very nice.

But these numbers really can be all over the place. And, with the implosion of the economy, publishers are tightening their belts, too. From my perspective, the BIG problem with NY publishing, is that they are giving way too large advances to celebrity books and/or a few select books but then, if those don't pan out, the other writers suffer. It's a tough business...but what are you going to do if you're a writer?!
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author, "Fearless Confessions: A Writer's Guide to Memoir"
www.suewilliamsilverman.com