What Authors Should Know About First Printings

A short guide to understanding the mysterious first printing numbers for a book.

Hello Confidantes,

I’m writing this after 24 hours of a wicked storm at the Jersey Shore. This was the view from my office today. Thankfully, the tide receded.

Today, we will discuss what you should know about first printings. I think every author should know the first printing quantity for their book. However, many publishers direct staff not to disclose that information because if the first printing is low (which I will get to), it looks like the said publisher is not doing a good job getting books into retail accounts. Let’s dive in:

I. How Publishers Decide First Printing Quantities

When salespeople talk to their respective retail accounts about a publisher’s next season of books (ex, Summer), they will give publishers feedback. For example, some accounts may not like a title or book covers, while others may order a conservative quantity of books or pass on them altogether. Often, retail accounts want confirmed publicity before committing to a number. The problem is that early confirmed publicity is becoming more challenging, so publishers must estimate a quantity to print based on actual orders and how many extra copies might sell based on marketing and publicity plans.

Here is a hypothetical situation: A debut novel by an author with a modest platform doesn’t have confirmed publicity. Barnes & Noble has decided to pass on it, but Amazon and some indie bookstores carry a decent number of copies because of a good marketing plan. The quantity needed to fulfill orders is 1750 copies. The author is doing a few book signings, and the publicist is optimistic about some review coverage. A safe number of copies to print is 3000 because the turnaround time for reprints is two weeks. An optimistic number of copies to print is 5000-6000, which is a lot in my opinion. Why?