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a half per cent. We figure ten as a basic rule but very seldom stick to it. As I say, you have to spend more on a small book. On the bigger ones, when you know that it's a big hit, you don't have to figure the whole ten per cent; but it frequently comes to that with cooperative advertising and publicity costs. There's all kinds of advertising that doesn't show up in your advertising figures.

Book clubs for instance.

Well, no. The book clubs do their own advertising.

I'm referring to what you spend on cooperative ads. You let the local book seller place these ads with his name on them. He can get a cheaper rate than you can in his home town. Also, once he's got that much money invested in the book himself, you feel that he's going to do something extra for it. So you contribute largely. You have to convince the author that this is your advertising too. He'll say, “That isn't your advertising. Krock-Brentano did that in Chicago. Bullock's did it in Los Angeles.” But it is a big part of the publisher's advertising and must be taken into account. Your catalogues are really advertising, too. Publicity is also part of advertising and so are elaborate cocktail parties and dinners in honor of favored authors. You have to add all these costs into your private account so that ten per cent becomes a very flexible thing.

I've always quoted Max Perkins, the great, old