quiz
Publishing Pop Quiz
Before we plunge in, we encourage you to take this little test just to see how your knowledge of publishing stacks up.
1. Approximately how many books are published each year in the United States?
a. 5,000
b. 50,000
c. 150,000
d. 500,000
e. 1,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000
2. Bestsellers represent what percentage of Barnes & Noble’s total sales?
a. Less than 5%
b. Less than 11%
c. Less than 62%
d. Less than 84%
e. Less than 99.99%
3. Which is the largest publisher in the United States?
a. HarperCollins
b. Time Warner Books
c. Random House
d. Simon & Schuster
e. The Government Printing Office
4. What is the biggest manufacturing cost for a book?
a. The printing
b. The paper
c. The shipping
d. The binding
e. Taking authors out to lunch
5. Bertelsmann, the German company that bought Random House, started out publishing what kinds of books?
a. Underground comics
b. Lutheran hymnals
c. Household electronics manuals
d. Maps of Munich
e. Animal husbandry guides
6. What is the bestselling book of all time, excluding the Bible?
a. Dr. Spock’s Baby and Child Care
b. Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone
c. Quotations from Chairman Mao Tse-Tung (The Little Red Book)
d. How to Win Friends and Influence People
e. The phone book
7. Which of the following books was originally self-published?
a. Ulysses by James Joyce
b. The Celestine Prophecy by James Redfield
c. The Tale of Peter Rabbit by Beatrix Potter
d. Joy of Cooking by Irma Rombauer
e. All of the above
8. On average, how much profit does a publisher make on each book sold?
a. 43%
b. 31%
c. 22%
d. Less than 10%
e. No publisher has ever made a profit on anything, anytime, anywhere
9. What percentage of books earn back their advance?
a. 60%
b. 42%
c. 28%
d. Less than 10%
e. No book has ever earned back its advance, anytime, anywhere
10. The average American buys how many books a year?
a. None
b. Fewer than 2
c. Fewer than 7
d. Fewer than 15
ANSWERS: 1 – c, 2 – a, 3 – e, 4 – b, 5 – b, 6 – c, 7 – e, 8 – d, 9 – d, 10 – b
