But he's become very cordial to me. This explains the book's success, partially. It got very good reviews. Good reviews will get you a readership right away, but that's it. The review or the article appears one day in a magazine or a newspaper, then it's gone.
Word of mouth is a continuing phenomenon, much more powerful.
I'm reading Memoirs of a Geisha right now because two people told me it was wonderful, and it is. It's Vintage also, and they told me that it sold 500,000 in hardcover and a million-five in paper. I don't know. I'm just as happy to have sold the hardcovers. I have to sell four paperbacks in order to make what I make for one hardcover.