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Bennett CerfBennett Cerf
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Session:         Page of 1029

There's one thing...are they going to maybe tell you how much you should spend on advertising for your trade books?

Cerf:

Of course not.

Q:

They're going to be interested in the figures.

Cerf:

They are interested in the net profit at the end of the year. Well, the figures are great. We have a very successful business. Now what might happen if things start to go downhill, I don't know. It won't while I'm alive. I'll tell you that. We have a very sound business. I think that we have the best editorial board in the United States of America today. Our editors are the best. We've got a wonderful list. The back list of Random House, Knopf, and Pantheon put together is so great that I think if we closed up the whole business for the next twenty years or so, we could make more money possibly than we're making now because our back list is like reaching down and picking up gold from the sidewalk. It's a superb back list. There's nothing like it.

Q:

How about the surveys and the red tape that these large organizations have?

Cerf:

It's a nuisance.

Q:

Yes. Well, this is something that's bothered...I'm sure this is...





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