And, of course, there's William H. Gates, America's best-known chief executive, whose two books had combined hardcover sales of fewer than one million copies.
The hardcover sales never exploded, but the book sold steadily.
Paperback reprints are usually issued a year after the hardcover edition, by which time hardcover sales have run their course.
Indeed, one of the Mellon projects suggests that on-line publishing may increase hardcover sales.
Sales of their earlier books in paperback have remained remarkably consistent, even as their latest hardcover sales dip.
"As each of these authors has a new novel, they may dilute" their own hardcover sales, Mr. Kirshbaum said.
Paying off a $7.1 million advance will require North American hardcover sales of 1.6 million books.
That share is growing even while American adult hardcover sales are flagging and returns of unsold copies are on the rise.
Hardcover bestseller status may hasten the paperback release of the same, or slow the release, if hardcover sales are brisk enough.
Until the 40's, Lynton told me, the book business in this country consisted almost entirely of hardcover sales.