"The press, then known as Holt, Rinehart and Winston, had taken a chance on the book, which had been rejected by numerous other houses. The initial print run was somewhere between 1,200 and 1,500 units-modest expectations that looked justified when, in the first year, sales barely cleared 2,000. This despite getting positive reviews in the New York Times and The New Yorker and being assigned to freshman classes at the City College of New York."
"Eventually, the writer scored an opportunity still regarded as a grail of book marketing: her debut was chosen for Oprah's Book Club. Sales reportedly soared to 800,000 copies. Today, publishers hope that their titles will nab the book club stamp-and the ensuing bump in sales-straight out of the gate. But, in this case, the Oprah endorsement came only at the turn of the millennium, thirty years after the novel was first released. By then, the author had published some half dozen other books."
A debut publication in 1970 had an initial print run of roughly 1,200–1,500 copies and sold barely 2,000 in its first year despite positive reviews in major outlets and assignment in college courses. It went out of print four years later. The creator continued working in publishing while raising a child, enduring severe financial strain. An influential in-house editor acquired subsequent titles, enabling steady critical growth. Thirty years after the original release, a high-profile book-club endorsement propelled sales to roughly 800,000 copies. By that time the creator had produced several more books and accumulated major literary awards.
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