Bargains or Bummers? Remainders

In the November 23, 1984, issue of Publishers Weekly, Paul Nathan in his “Rights” column noted that the latest Stephen King novel, The Talisman, co‐authored with Peter Straub), had an astonishing total of nearly 800,000 copies in print only a week or so after its official publication date. One can safely assume that even at the book's $18.95 cover price an awful lot of people are buying it, and will contine to do so for a while, at least until the paperback version comes out. One can at the same time safely predict that once the demand for the hardcover edition has slackened, and perhaps even before the paperback is available, it won't be long before those ubiquitous Publishers Central Bureau catalogs will be trumpeting on their covers that The Talisman—the “original hardcover edition”—is now available at the ridiculously low price of, say, $5.98. In other words, The Talisman will have become what is known in the book trade as a remainder.